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PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS. 


UIDE TO THE GARDEN 




OF THE 

Zoological Society 

OF PHILADELPHIA 

(fairmount park). 




Member of 


NINTH EDITION. 

REVISED AND CORRECTED 


1905 . 


By ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN, 

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American 
Philosophical Society, &c., 


SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. 


I 


WAS. V 























the zoological Society 

OF PHILADELPHIA 

Was incorporated in 1859. The Garden was first opened to 
the public July 1st, 1874. 

It has the following classes of members, who are elected by 
the Board:— 

1. Annual.— These pay five dollars a year and receive 
one annual ticket of admission. 

2. Junior. —These are minors whose membership expires 
when they reach the age of eighteen years. They make one 
payment of $5 when elected. 

3. Life Members. —These pay fifty dollars upon election, 
in lieu of all future dues. Annual members may at any time 
become Life Members upon the payment of forty-five dollars 
additional. 

4. Honorary Members are those who, in consequence of 
liberality to the Society, or who, holding a distinguished 
position in science, are elected by the Board. 

5. Corresponding Members are those who are interested 
in the Society, living out of the city, and are of service to it 
abroad. 

Members are admitted to the Garden during the time it 
is open to the public, which is from 9 A. M. until sunset, 
every day in the week, including Sunday. 

Persons who wish to become members will please commu¬ 
nicate with the Secretary of the Society. 



PLAN 

OF THE 

Philadelphia Zoological Garden. 


1 . 

CARNIVORA HOUSE, 

1 1 . 

1 2. 

LAKE FOR WATER FOWL. 
RESTAURANT. 

3. 

MONKEY HOUSE. 

1 3. 

BADGER CAGE. 

4. 

BEAVER POND. 

1 4. 

DEER PADDOCKS. 

5. 

BEAR PITS. 

1 6 . 

STREAM FOR WADING BIRDS. 

6 . 

EAGLE AVIARY. 

1 6. 

BUFFALO PEN. 

7. 

ELEPHANT HOUSE. 

1 7. 

WOLVES AND FOXES. 

8 . 

SEAL PONDS. 

1 8. 

OTTER POND. 

9. 

PHEASANT ENCLOSURE. 

1 9. 

GOATS, SHEEP, &c. 

10. 

WINTER HOUSE FOR DEER, &c. 

20. 

SQUIRREL CAGE. 


21. REPTILE HOUSE. 

22. PRAIRIE DOGS. 

23. SOUTHERN BIRD OF PREY CAGES. 

24. AVIARY. 

25. SODA FOUNTAINS. 

26. ELEPHANT POND. 

27. POLAR BEAR PIT. 

28. STREAM FOR WATER FOWL. 

29. LYNX CAGE. 

30. SMALL MAMMAL HOUSE. 

33. RACCOON TREE. 


34* St, 


A. NORTHERN ENTRANCE. 

B. SOUTHERN ENTRANCE. 

C. EXIT GATES. 

D. CARRIAGE SHEDS. 

E. RETIRING ROOMS FOR MEN. 

F. RETIRING ROOMS FOR WOMEN 
H. DRINKING FOUNTAINS. 















































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GUIDE TO THE GARDEN 


OF THE 

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

n 

OF PHILADELPHIA 

(Fairmount Park). 


NINTH EDITION. 

REVISED AND CORRECTED. 



By ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN, 

Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American 
Philosophical Society, &c., 

SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY. 




9^7 

J&5&BS3 

,Psf 3 

LIBRARY ef CONGRESS ' ‘ ^ ■ 

Two Copies Rsceived 

JAN 12 1905 

/o Copyritfiu tntiy 

• >9 / <?<7 jj~ 

JJLrtSS <2. XXc. Nos 

/O 6 ~d~f^ 

COPY B. 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1905 , by 
ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 











INTRODUCTION. 




To a large class of visitors, who desire to find in a zoologi¬ 
cal collection instruction as well as amusement, a brief state¬ 
ment of the meaning and the relative value of the groups into 
which the animal kingdom is divided by naturalists, will not 
be without interest. To arrive at a correct understanding of 
these, it is necessary to look at the animal world, not as a 
mere mass of living forms bearing haphazard resemblances to 
each other, but as composed of great family groups of beings, 
formed, more or less, on the same plan, varying, it is true, to 
a vast extent in its mode of expression, but all the forms of 
which, starting from a common point, may be arranged in 
more or less divergent series, presenting combinations of 
structural peculiarities, differing from each other to an extent 
somewhat proportionate to their distance from the starting 
point. 

The first complete systematic classification of living forms 
was made by the Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus, about the 
middle of the eighteenth century, chiefly from external resem¬ 
blances ; but the growth of the great conception of organic 
evolution within the past forty years has profoundly changed 
both the methods and the views of zoologists, and the systems 
now in use, based mainly upon anatomical characters, aim at 
indicating the real relationship and successions in time, borne 
to each other by species now existing and those already ex¬ 
tinct. 


( 3 ) 



4 


Under a system which, though simple, is sufficiently com¬ 
prehensive for the present purpose, the primary divisions 
are:— 

I. Vertebrata. —Mammals, birds, reptiles, batrachians, and 

fishes. 

II. Tunicata. —Ascidians, sea squirts (primitive vertebrates). 

III. Molhisca. —Oysters, cuttles, snails, slugs, &c. 

IV. Arthropoda. —Lobsters, crabs, spiders, insects, &c. 

V. Echinodermata. —Starfish, crinoids, sea urchins, &c. 

VI. Vermes. —Worms. 

VII. Coelenterata. —Hydras, polyps, corals, sea anemones, jelly¬ 
fish, &c. 

VIII. Spongice. —Sponges. 

IX. Protozoa. —Amoeba, infusoria, rhizopods, &c.; the lowest 
forms of animal life, many of them mi¬ 
croscopic, and bordering closely on the 
vegetable world. 

At the present time about 386,000 species of living ani¬ 
mals are known to systematic zoology. Of these 2500 are 
mammals, 12,500 are birds, 4500 reptiles and batrachians, 
and 12,000 fishes. 

It is with these only that the collection in the Garden has 
to deal. The Vertebrates—animals possessing a skeleton of 
bone or cartilage, enclosing cavities in which the soft parts of 
their organization are contained and protected from injury— 
are arranged in classes , according to the nearness with which 
they approach to one of the five great types of structure which 
have been found to exist among them :— 

I. Mammalia. —Animals which suckle their young. 

II. Aves, or birds. 

III. Reptlha. —As turtles, lizards, and serpents. 

IV. Batrachia. —As frogs, toads, and salamanders. 

V. Pisces , or fishes. 


5 


These classes are broken up into orders , each possess¬ 
ing an association of structural characters which is common 
to all the individuals included in it, and in which they differ 
from all others in their class. These orders have been dif¬ 
ferently constituted and arranged, according as different 
points have been made use of for their determination. 

They are again divided into smaller groups called families , 
which, possessing the characteristic structure of their order , 
yet depart in some minor consideration from its type—or, in 
other words, from that form which has been taken to show 
most clearly the peculiarity of the order. 

Families are again broken up into genera , which bear to 
them much the same relation as that which they, in turn, 
bear to orders. Thus—to illustrate with a familiar example— 
the lion, tiger, leopard, &c., are all cats and belong to one 
genus— Felis ; they are classified as follows:— 

Division Vertebrata —because they have a backbone or ver¬ 
tebral column. 

Class Mammalia —because they have organs peculiar to 
those vertebrates which suckle their young. 

Order Carnivora —because their plan of structure is that 
possessed by mammals which live on flesh. 

Family Felidce —because, in addition to the above, they 
possess in common certain details of teeth, claws, and other 
structural points, which none of the other carnivora share. 

Genus Felis —because certain minor modifications are un¬ 
like those existing in a few other individuals, which so far 
have agreed with them, but which now become another genus 
of the same family. 

But to go a step farther—the lion, tiger, and leopard, 
though so far they have been precisely similar, are yet recog¬ 
nizable—there are still smaller points of difference; they 


6 


are, therefore, said to be different species , and a second name 
is added to the scientific designation of their genus ; thus the 
Lion is Felis leo , the Tiger is Felis tigris, and the Leopard is 
Felis pardus. 

Of late years a practice of employing a third, or sub¬ 
specific name, to designate grades of unlikeness more minute 
than those of specific value, has come into use. These names 
are written in Latinized form, because Latin is a language in 
use by men of science of all nations, and uniformity of prac¬ 
tice is thereby reached. 

In the following scheme it is not intended to enter upon 
the close details of classification, the object being merely to 
place broadly before the visitor an idea of the relationship, 
within the limits of class and order, of the animals which he 
sees in the Garden:— 


Class I. Mammalia :— 

1. Primates. —Man, apes, monkeys, marmosets. 

2. Lemures. —Lemurs, galagos, loris (“ half apes.”) 

3. Carnivora. —Cats, civets, paradoxures, ichneumons, hyenas, 

dogs, wolves, foxes, weasel, badger, skunk, otter, raccoon, 
bears. 

4. Pinnipedia. —Seals, “sea lions,” walrus. 

5. Insectivora. —Moles, shrews, hedgehog, galeopithecus. 

6. Chiroptera. —Bats, ‘‘flying foxes.” 

7. Rodentia. —Squirrels, spermophiles, marmots, “prairie dog,” 

beaver, rats, mice, voles, capromys, porcupines, cavy, agou¬ 
tis, hares, rabbit. 

8. Hyraces. —Hyrax, “ coney.” 

9. Proboscidea. —Elephant. 

10. Ungulata. —Rhinoceros, tapir, horse, ass, oxen, antelopes, 

sheep, goats, giraffe, deer, camel, llamas, hippopotamus, 
swine. 

11. Cetacea. —Whales, porpoises, dolphin, &c. 

12. Sirenia. —Manatee, “sea cow,” dugong. 


7 


13. Edentata. —Sloths, armadillos, ant eaters. 

14. Effodientia. —Pangolin, aard-vark. 

15. Marsupialia. —Kangaroos, phalangers, petaurus, wombats, 

dasyures, opossum, &c. 

16. Monotremata. —Ornithorhynchus, echidna. 

Class II. Aves :— 

1. Passeres. —An immense assemblage containing the majority of 

birds: thrushes, warblers, wrens, vireos, wagtails, swallows, 
bulbuls, orioles, shrikes, sugarbirds, tanagers, finches, spar¬ 
rows, weavers, troupials, starlings, mynahs, paradise birds, 
crows, jays, larks, &c. 

2. Picaricz. —Woodpeckers, hummingbirds, whip-poor-will, king¬ 

fishers, hornbills, motmots, toucans, cuckoos, touracous, tro- 
gons, &c. 

3. Psittaci. —Macaws, cockatoos, parrots, parrakeets, lories. 

4. Striges. —Owls. 

5. Accipitres. —Eagles, hawks, buzzards, falcons, vultures. 

6. Columbce. —Pigeons, doves. 

7. Pterocletes. —Sand grouse. 

8. Gallince. —Grouse, pheasants, partridges, quail, peafowl, 

guinea, turkey, fowl, curassows, guans. 

9. Hemipodii. —Bush quail. 

10. Fulicaricz. —Rails, coots, water hens. 

11. Alectorides. —Cranes, trumpeters, bustards. 

12. Limicolce. —“Shore birds,” curlews, plover, woodcock, 

snipe, &c. 

13. Herodiones. —Herons, bitterns, egrets, storks, ibises. 

14. Palamedece. —Screamers. 

15. Odontoglossce. —Flamingoes. 

16. Anseres. —Swans, geese, ducks. 

17. Steganopodes. —Pelicans, gannets, cormorants, “water tur¬ 

key.” 

18. Gavice. —Gulls, terns. 

19. Tubinares. —Petrels, albatross. 

20. Pygopodes. —Divers, loons, grebes, auks. 

21. Impe7ines. —Penguins. 

22. Crypturi .—Tinamous. 

23. Struthiones. —Ostrich, cassowaries, emu, rhea, apteryx. 


*0 •'fr 


s 


Class III. Reptilia :— 

1. Crocodi/ia. —Alligators, crocodiles, caiman, &c. 

2. Che Ionia. —Turtles, terrapins, tortoises. 

. Rhynchoccphalia. —Tuatera “lizard.” 

. Lacertilia. —Lizards, geckos, chameleons, &c. 

5. Ophidta. —Snakes. 

Class IV. Batrachia :— 

1. Ecaudata. —Frogs, toads, tree toads. 

2. Caudata. —Salamanders, newts, siren, proteus, &c. 

3. Apoda. —Coecilians, “burrowers, without legs.” 





GUIDE TO THE GARDEN 

OF THE 

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

OF PHILADELPHIA. 


The visitor taking the route laid down on the accompany¬ 
ing plan of the Garden, is supposed to enter at the Girard 
avenue gate; those entering at the other end of the Garden 
can, however, pursue the same course by taking the path to 
the right around the lake (No. n), and following the route 
until they come to the Penn Mansion, when they should 
turn to the left and enter the Carnivora House, after which 
the route can be followed until they are brought back to 
the point from which they started. As many of the animals 
are shifted from one place to another at different seasons, 
they will not always be found at the location designated by 
the Guide; each cage, however, bears the name of the ani¬ 
mal which it contains, and its description can readily be found 
by a reference to the index at the close of the book. 

It should be added that a collection of living animals is 
constantly changing by deaths and by additions. At no 
moment, therefore, can it exactly correspond to a printed 
catalogue, which will always contain a few species not seen 
by the visitor in the enclosures, and on the other hand will 
be silent concerning others among late arrivals. 

No. i.—THE CARNIVORA HOUSE. 

There would appear to be little in common between the 
domestic tabby, which lies purring before the fire, and the 
majestic lion, which the visitor sees with much pleasure is 
here separated from him by a solid framework of iron, yet 
there is no difference between them so far as the essential 

( 9 ) 



10 


points of their structure are concerned, and none even in 
their habits, excepting such as are caused by the different 
circumstances under which they live. The one preys on 
antelope, while the other lives on rats and mice; but they 
hunt for them and catch them in one and the same manner. 
They are the two extremes of the Felida , or cat family, 
regarded in point of size. 

The domesticated house cat probably originated in Egypt 
not less than thirty to thirty-five centuries ago, and most 
likely is descended from Felis caligata, a wild species still 
found in that country. 

The true cats—composing the genus Felis —are externally 
distinguished from the other members of the family, or the 
lynxes, by their slender form and by a much longer tail than 
is ever possessed by any of the latter genus. 

About fifty species of cats are now known, found in all re¬ 
gions except in the West Indies, Australia, and Madagascar. 

The Lion (JFelis led) ranges all through Africa, from the 
Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean, and through a 
great part of southern Asia, but there, at least, in rapidly 
lessening numbers. 



THE AFRICAN LION. 












In ancient times they were known in Greece, but civiliza¬ 
tion has long since driven them out of Europe. 

As with all animals whose wide range of distribution ex¬ 
poses them to many different climates and kinds of food, 
under the action of which, with other conditions, they are 
apt to vary more or less, the lion of different parts differs 
much in appearance, chiefly in color and thickness of mane, 
but as these variations are indefinite and do not involve the 
slightest change of structure, they are looked on as being of 
no specific importance. 

The lion reaches maturity at about eight years of age. A 
full grown male should be from ten to ten and a half feet 
long, including the tail, and should weigh about four hun¬ 
dred pounds. Mr. F. C. Selous, the famous hunter and ex¬ 
plorer of South Africa, states that wild lions rarely grow as 
large and luxuriant manes as those kept in menageries. 

The Tiger {FeKs tigris)j among the cats, is the sole 
rival of the lion, in strength and size. Its range is much 
more restricted, as it is never found outside of Asia, where its 
principal home is in Hindostan and the adjacent islands, 
though it is sparingly found in Siberia on the north, and 
through China into Korea on the north-east. Tigers from 
the cold regions of northern Asia have fur almost as long and 
thick as that of the well-known Persian cats. 

The male and female tiger are similar in appearance, and 
have been beautifully adapted by nature for the purpose of 
stealing unobserved upon their prey; the tawny yellow ol 
their skin, striped with vertical bars of black, blending so 
perfectly with the jungle of canes and bamboos, among which 
they live, that it is almost impossible to detect their presence 
until revealed by motion, when it is usually too late for the 
startled victim to escape. 

Eleven feet in extreme length, with a weight of four hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds, would be the dimensions of a very 
large tiger. 

The Leopard (Felis pardus) has much the same distri¬ 
bution as the lion, and varies almost to the same extent. 
The Black Leopard is a rare and beautiful animal, but is 
merely a color variety of the common form ; animals of both 
colors being found, as is stated, in the same litter. 

Among the members of the cat family now found in a wild 


2 


state, the only one which seems to be susceptible of domesti¬ 
cation is the Cheetah (FelU jubata ), often known as the 
Hunting Leopard, which is found in India, south-western 
Asia, and Africa. It differs much in disposition from all of 
its kind, and so far surpasses them in intelligence and tracta- 
bility, that for many centuries it has been trained in the East 
for the purpose of the chase, the animal being blindfolded 
and led by a chain until a deer or antelope is started, when it 
is unhooded and loosed to run down the quarry. 

The claws of the cheetah being much less retractile than 
those of other cats, and the skull presenting some marked 
differences, it is usually placed in a separate genus— Cyrix - 
lurus. 

The Jaguar (Felis on<;a ) is the largest of the cats of the New 
World, Baron Humboldt having described one which equaled 
the average tiger in size; it inhabits the hottest parts of the 
continent from South America into upper Mexico, sometimes 
even ranging into southern Texas—the principal home of 
the species being in the dense forests which stretch away from 
both banks of the Amazon. In appearance it is very similar 
to the leopard—the jaguar having a shorter tail and the 
spots covering the skin presenting a more broken appear¬ 
ance. 

Many instances are given by South American travelers of 
the strength and ferocity of the jaguar; D’Azara, in particu¬ 
lar, relates that he once saw one drag off the body of a horse 
to a considerable distance, and then swim with it across a 
wide and deep river. 

The black jaguar is much more rarely met with than the 
black leopard, and in menageries is considered a valuable 
prize. 

The American Panther (.Felis concolor ) covers a greater 
extent of country in its range than any other existing cat, be¬ 
ing distributed through North and South America from Canada 
nearly to Cape Horn, though in the most settled portions 
of the former, civilization has generally driven it to the 
secluded parts of the mountains of the north and east, and 
the cane brakes of the south. 

They are notably wild and shy, and in regions where they 
are known to abound the animal itself is rarely seen. 

They are found of several shades, from silvery gray to reddish 


13 


brown, and are all of one species, though known by the differ¬ 
ent names of Panther, Puma, Couguar, and Mountain Lion. 
The latter name was given to them by the early colonists of 
the country, probably for the reason that the panther, having 
no mane and approaching in color to the lion, was taken to 
be a female of that species, which is also devoid of a mane. 
They are prodigiously active, even among this family of four- 
footed athletes, and can cover as much as thirty feet at a 
bound. 

The Clouded Leopard (Felis nebulosa ) is perhaps the 
most beautiful in markings of all the large cats, though it is 
sufficiently rare in collections to be little known. It ranges 
from eastern India and Siam, through the Indo-Malayan 
islands as far as Borneo. At the present time the Society is 
fortunate in owning a pair of these animals. 



THE CLOUDED LEOPARD. 

The Common Ocelot ( Felispardalis ) is a native of Mexico, 
Central and South America, and occasionally those parts of 
the United States bordering on Mexico. In the desolate 
region lying along the Rio Grande in Texas, known as the 
“ brush country,” it is by no means uncommon. It is a 
beautiful animal, not much larger than the domestic cat. 






14 


Like all the smaller members of the cat family, it climbs trees 
with great agility and lies in wait among the branches for its 
prey. 

The Brazilian Ocelot {Felts chibigouazou) is consider¬ 
ably larger, and has a conspicuously large head, much more 
yellow in color then the rest of the animal. Several other 
species of small cats range from Mexico southward through 
tropical America. Among these the Eyra ( F\ eyra) and 
Yaguarundi ( F\ yaguarundi ) have peculiarly long, flattened 
heads, and short legs, which cause them to look much like 
large weasels. 

A number of others are found in Asia and Africa, of which 
the Serval {Fells served), the Caracal {F. caracal ), the 
Fishing Cat {F. viverrina ), the Javan Cat {F. javanensis ), 
and the Golden Cat {F. temmincki') are at times represented 
here. 

The Spotted Hyaena {Hycena crocuta ), the Striped Hy^na 
{H. striata ), and the Brown Hyaena {H. brunnea) constitute 
the family Hycenidce. Of some of these, specimens will 
usually be seen in the Garden. They are readily distinguished 
from the dogs, which they somewhat resemble, by the excess 
of length in the fore over the hind limbs. Their molar teeth 
are unusually strong, and the jaw muscles are very powerful, 
thus enabling them to crush with ease large bones, which 
they devour. 

The Striped Hyaena inhabits both Africa and India, and 
presents a marked appearance by reason of a mane or crest 
of hair, running the length of the spine, which it has the 
power to raise at will, probably for the purpose of increasing 
its apparent bulk and giving to itself a more frightful ap¬ 
pearance, thereby deterring from an attack those enemies 
which would otherwise overcome and destroy it. It is 
more cowardly in disposition and solitary in habit than 
the Spotted Hyaena, which is confined to the southern part 
of Africa. 

The Bornean Sun Bear {Ursus malayanus ) and the 
Himalayan Bear ( Ursus tibetanus ) belong to a group of the 
Ursidce known as sun bears, from their favorite habit of bask¬ 
ing in the sun. 

The Sloth or Jungle Bear {Melursus ursinus ) frequents 
the thick jungles of India. 


No. 31.—THE ELK PEN. 

East of the Carnivora House is a large enclosure, to which 
the elk have recently been moved. 

The American Elk or Wapiti (Cervus canadensis ) is the 
largest of the true deer, old bulls often reaching a weight of 
seven hundred pounds or more. As Avith all deer, the ant¬ 
lers, which are largely developed in this species, are shed 
every year, late in the winter or early in spring. The new 



THE AMERICAN ELK. 







i6 


growth begins about April, and requires ten or twelve weeks 
for its completion. The antler is built up by a deposit of 
animal matter and mineral salts carried by the blood, and is 
almost identical in composition with ordinary bone. 

In all deer except the reindeer and caribou, antlers are 
borne only by the male. 

The wapiti ranged originally all over the United States 
and a large part of Canada; fifty years ago a few were 
found in the mountains of western Virginia and Pennsylva¬ 
nia, but civilization has gradually driven it, like the buffalo 
and the Indian, to a few fastnesses in the far west, where 
they yet make a stand before the final extermination which 
seems inevitably to await them. At the present time they 
are found only in the Rocky Mountains. In the Yellow¬ 
stone National Park, where all animals are protected by 
law, they abound. They are readily kept, living on almost 
any kind of vegetable food, and are hardy and little liable 
to disease. Save in exceptional cases, and during the season 
of rutting, they are tractable and easily managed. 

It is a significant fact, illustrating the great principle of 
inheritance in animals, that the only species of ungulates from 
the western part of the American continent which have yet 
been successfully domesticated east of the region of the great 
plains, are the elk and the buffalo, and in each of these cases 
their progenitors, but a few generations back, ranged nearly, 
if not quite, to the Atlantic coast. 


No. 33.—THE RACCOON TREE. 

A tall honey-locust tree just outside the western entrance 
to the Small Mammal House has been surrounded by a fence 
and converted into a raccoon pen. The best known of these 
distincly American animals is the one common in the eastern 
United States, (Procyon lotor ). They resemble in diet, and 
in many points of structure, the bears, and have been placed 
by some systematists as a sub-family of the group. They are 
generally classed, however, as a separate family, Procyonidce , 
of carnivores. Their range is almost universal through the 
United States, from the latitude of Massachusetts southward. 
They are subject to considerable variation in color—albinos 
being not uncommon. A specimen formerly in the collec¬ 
tion, from Alabama, was of an orange-yellow, shading into a 


17 


deeper hue on those parts where the animal is normally black. 
They are easily tamed, and make playful pets. 

Another species is the Crab-Eating Raccoon (P. can - 
crivorus ) of South America. 

A usual result of attempting to reproduce in zoological 
gardens the exact surroundings of animals in their life under 
nature, is well illustrated by this enclosure, in which natural 
conditions have been so completely imitated, that probably 
not one visitor out of a hundred ever sees a raccoon. Those 
occupying it pass their whole time during the day hidden 
from view in the hollow logs, or asleep among the upper 
branches of the tree. 


No. 30.—THE SMALL MAMMAL 
HOUSE. 

This building was erected in 1898, partly upon the founda¬ 
tion of the old Monkey House, and contains mammals of 
small size, belonging to a variety of groups. 

The Viverridce is a large family of carnivorous mammals of 
small size, all resembling more or less the civets in appear¬ 
ance and habits; they are of active and graceful movements, 
many of them living much among trees; all feeding upon 
smaller quadrupeds, birds, eggs, and reptiles. They chiefly 
inhabit Africa and southern Asia, two species being found 
in Europe. 

Among them are the African Civet ( Viverra civetta ), 
the Burmese Civet (K megaspiia ), the Indian Civet ( Viver - 
ricula indica ), the Common Genet ( Genetta vulgaris ) of 
southern Europe and Africa, the Palm Cat (. Paradoxurus 
niger ), the Common Paradoxure ( P . typus ), the Two-spotted 
Paradoxure ( Nandinia binotata), the Binturong ( Arctictis 
binturong ) from Malacca, the Mongoose or Gray Ichneumon 
(. Herpestcs mungo ) from India and the surrounding islands, 
the Egyptian Ichneumon ( H . ichneumon) , the Dusty Ichneu¬ 
mon (ZZ. pulverulenius ) from South Africa, and the beautiful 
Civet Cat or Ring-tailed Bassaris ( Bassaris astuta ) of 
Texas and Mexico. It is probable that the latter animal 
possesses affinities which ally it more closely with the coatis 
and raccoons than with the Viverridce , among which it has 
sometimes been classed. 


i8 


The ichneumons are fierce and blood-thirsty little ani¬ 
mals, and a number of the common Indian species were im¬ 
ported a few years ago into the island of Jamaica, to rid the 
colony of the enormous numbers of rats which infested the 
plantations of sugar cane. The experiment seems to have 
been successful, as the animals have become fully acclimated, 
but in addition to the rats they have exterminated numbers 
of the native birds as well. 

The coati will be readily recognized by its long, pointed 
snout. The two best known species are the White-nosed 
Coati (JVasua narica ) and the Ring-tailed Coati (AT. rufa ), 



THE BINTURONG. 

which range from Mexico through Central into South Amer¬ 
ica; a pair of the first-named species, now in the collection, 
were taken near Laredo, Texas. These animals are allied by 
many points of structure to the bears and raccoons, and have 
been placed in the same family as the latter. 

The Kinkajou Cercoleptes caudivolvulus ), an inhabitant 
of sub-tropical America, is a very pretty member of this 
group. It is of gentle disposition and makes an interesting pet. 




19 


Another large family of the smaller carnivora is the Mits- 
telidce , which are largely represented in the New World ; most 
of the fur-bearing animals, such as the otter, mink, sable, 
marten, and skunk being found within its limits. Some of 
the South American forms, as the Tayra ( Galictis Barbara) 
and Orison (G . vittata ), and the Indian Ratel ( Mellivora 
indica ), which require artificial warmth in winter, are kept in 
this building. 

The order Insectivora is not easy to define, as its members 
present such a diversity of characters that most of them have at 
times been placed in other orders. They are all of small size, 
and feed chiefly on insects and other invertebrates. A famil¬ 
iar example is the common mole. A rare and curious mem¬ 
ber is the Solenodon ( Solenodon cubanus ), from Cuba, 
nearly related to the shrews. Another strange form, the 
Tenrec ( Centetes ecandatus ), comes from Madagascar. A 
better known insectivore is the Common European Hedge¬ 
hog ( Erinaceus europens). This curious little animal is found 
in almost all parts of Europe, in the colder portions hiber¬ 
nating through the winter months. 

Few articles of food come amiss to the hedgehog, although 
its tastes are mainly carnivorous,—worms, insects, moles, 
small mammals, birds, and eggs being its chief diet, while in 
many parts of Europe the common people have a strange be¬ 
lief that it sucks the milk of cows when they lie down in the 
pasture or the barn-yard, of course, without foundation in fact. 

The Rodentia is a very large order, characterized by the 
absence of canine teeth and the development of the incisors 
to so great a degree that they resemble chisels, and are used 
by the animal for the purpose of cutting wood and other hard 
substances, from which is derived their name— Rodentia or 
gnawers. Representatives of this order are found all over 
the world, North America having a large proportion of the 
whole number of species. Many of the occupants of this 
building belong to this group; among them are generally 
the Punctated Agouti ( Dasyprocta punctata) from Central 
America, the Golden Agouti (Z>. aguti ), the Mexican 
Agouti ( D . mexicana), the Olive Agouti or Acouchy ( D . 
acouchy) from South America and the West Indies, the Paca 
or Spotted Cavy (^Cczlogenyspaca), and Fournier’s Capromys 
( Capromys pilorides). 


20 


The African Porcupine ( Hystrix cristata ), the Malaccan 
Porcupine (H . longicauda), the Javan Porcupine ( H.jav - 
anica ), the White-haired Porcupine (. Erethizon dorsatus ), 
and the Yellow-haired Porcupine ( E . dorsatus epixanthus ) 
—the two last from North America—are all quiet, retiring 
rodents, living on roots and vegetables or the bark of trees. 
The spines which take, in part, the place of hair in the por¬ 
cupine, are loosely rooted in the skin, and readily come off 
in the mouths of such animals as may attack them, thus form¬ 
ing a terrible means of defense to the animal. The ease with 
which these spines are detached has, without doubt, given 
rise to the fable that the porcupine is able to shoot forth its 
quills, like arrows, against its foes. 

The African Brush-tailed Porcupine (Atherura afticana ) 
and the Brazilian Tree Porcupine ( Coendu prehensilis) are 
also kept here. 

The Viscacha ( Lagostomus trichodactylus ), a burrowing 
rodent from La Plata, closely related to the chinchilla, is 
stated by Mr. Darwin to have the curious habit of piling up 
around the mouth of its burrow all objects of a hard charac¬ 
ter which may be found in the neighborhood. So marked is 
this peculiarity that travelers, losing some small article upon 
the road, retrace their steps and examine every viscacha hole 
in the vicinity, generally with the result of finding the miss¬ 
ing object. 

The Capybara ( Hydrochczrus capybara ) and Coypus ( Myop - 
tamus coypus ) are natives of South America, and are of some¬ 
what similar habits to the beaver and muskrat,—like them 
belonging to the order of rodents. The capybara is much 
prized by the natives for its white, delicate flesh, while from 
the coypu is obtained the fur known as “nutria,” formerly 
much used in the manufacture of beaver hats. A small colony 
of coypus is maintained in the creek behind the deer park. 


The Vulpine Phalanger (Phalangista vulpecula ) and the 
Yellow-bellied Phalanger (Petaurus australis') are small 
vegetable-eating marsupials (see page 44) from Australia; 
they live almost entirely among the trees and are strictly 
nocturnal, being found in the daytime with heads bent down 
and noses stowed away between their forefeet. The burrowing 
marsupials are represented by the Rabbit-eared Bandicoot 
( Thy la co mys lagotis.) 


21 


Another interesting marsupial from the same region is the 
Hairy-nosed Wombat (. Phascolomys latifrons). They are 
slow, sluggish animals, somewhat resembling the badger in 
appearance. They burrow in the ground and spend the day 
in strict retirement, coming out to feed only at night. In 
conformity with their natural habit, those in the Garden rarely 
awake until late in the afternoon. They feed altogether on 
vegetable substances, and delight in picking the tops out of a 
bunch of clover hay. 

Other species are the Common Wombat (. P . mitchelli ) and 
the Platyrhine Wombat (P. ursinus), both of which have 
been exhibited on previous occasions. 


The Common Opossum (. Didelphys marsupialis ) ranges 
from the latitude of southern Massachusetts to the lower part 
of Brazil, and is the only representative in North America of 
the marsupials. The opossums belong to the carnivorous 
branch of the order, although their diet is very varied, con¬ 
sisting of small birds, mammals, reptiles, and eggs, as well 
as of fruits, buds, and grain. 

They live generally in the hollow of a tree, where the 
female produces as many as fifteen young at a time, breeding 
several times in the course of a year. The characteristic 
pouch of the order is well developed in these animals. 

They have a very prehensile tail, and are also distinguished 
by the peculiarity of their dentition, which consists of ten 
incisors, two canines, and fourteen molars in the upper, and 
the same, with two incisors less, in the lower jaw, or fifty 
teeth in all. 

A number of opossums are found in South America, more 
or less resembling this species, though of smaller size. The 
collection has at times contained specimens of Derby’s 
Opossum (D. derbiana ), the Quica Opossum ( D . quica ), the 
Ashy Opossum (Z>. cinered ), and others. 

The Indian Fruit Bat (. Pteropus medius ), known also by 
the names of rousette bat and flying fox, are now rarely seen 
in zoological collections, as their importation into the United 
States is forbidden by Act of Congress. They belong to the 
order Chiroptera. They exist in large numbers in India and 
the neighboring islands, where they grow to a very large size, 
the expanded wings sometimes measuring four or five feet from 


22 


tip to tip. Sir Emerson Tennent gives the following account 
of some of their habits:— 

“ A favorite resort of these bats is to the lofty India-rubber trees, which 
on one side overhang the Botanic Garden of Paradenia, in the vicinity of 
Kandy. Thither for some years past they have congregated, chiefly in the 
autumn, taking their departure when the figs of the Ficus elastica are con¬ 
sumed. Here they hang in such prodigious numbers that frequently large 
branches give way beneath their accumulated weight. 

“ Every forenoon, generally between the hours of 9 and 11 A. M., they 
take to wing, apparently for exercise, and possibly to sun their wings and 
fur and dry them after the dews of early morning. On these occasions 
their numbers are quite surprising, flying as thick as bees or midges. 

“ After these recreations they hurry back to their favorite trees, chatter¬ 
ing and screaming like monkeys, and always wrangling and contending 
angrily for the most shady and comfortable places in which to hang for the 
rest of the day protected from the sun. 

“ The branches they resort to soon become almost divested of leaves, 
these being stripped off by the action of the bats attaching and detaching 
themselves by means of their hooked feet. At sunset they fly off to their 
feeding-grounds, probably at a considerable distance, as it requires a large 
area to furnish sufficient food for such multitudes .”—Natural History of 
Ceylon. 

When at rest, the fruit bat hangs head downward, by one 
foot, wrapping itself tightly in the folds of its wings. 

They are also found in Africa and Madagascar. 

The Society has exhibited a number of specimens, but they 
cannot be seen to advantage in captivity, as during the whole 
of the day they hang, as described above, almost concealed 
from view within their wings. 

The North American bats belong to the insectivorous 
branch of the order. The most common species in the East¬ 
ern and Middle States are the Red Bat (. Atalapha borealis) 
and the Little Brown Bat ( Vespertilio subulatus). In spite 
of the almost universal disgust with which they are regarded, 
they are harmless little beasts, and are of great service in de¬ 
stroying numbers of noisome insects. 

Other mammals kept in this building during cold weather 
are the Peba Armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ), the Hairy 
Armadillo (Z>. villosus), and the Six-banded Armadillo 
(Z>. sex-cinctus). The armadillos belong to the order 
Edentata —so called from the imperfections of their supply of 
teeth. They live in the warmer portions of the New World, 
from Texas to Patagonia. They burrow in the ground and 
live on worms and insects. 


23 


The order includes, among existing animals, the armadillos, 
sloths, and ant-eaters of tropical America and Africa. Some 
of the largest of extinct mammals, of which remains have 
been discovered, as Glyptodon, Mylodon , and Megatherium , 
were also edentates—the first having been a sort of gigantic 
armadillo ten feet long. 

The Giant Ant-eater ( Myrmecophaga jubata), the Ta- 
mandua Ant-eater (Af. tetradactyla ), living entirely on ants, 
which they procure by means of a mucilaginous saliva cover¬ 
ing the tongue; Hoffman’s Sloth ( Cholopus hoffmani ), the 
Two-toed Sloth (C. didactylus ), and the Three-toed Sloth 
(.Bradypus tridactylus ), strange animals which pass their life 
in an inverted position, swinging, back downwards, by their 
long claws from the trees from which they devour the leaves 
and tender twigs, are among the most remarkable of this 
order of beings. 

Recent discoveries of fossils at Port Kennedy, on the 
Schuylkill river, have shown that in a geological period 
preceding that in which we live (the Pleistocene ), when the 
climate of northern regions was much warmer than at present, 
sloths belonging to species now extinct were among the 
commonest inhabitants of Pennsylvania. 

Leaving the Small Mammal House, the visitor passes the 
old mansion, “Solitude,” erected in 1785 by John Penn, a 
descendant of the founder of the Commonwealth, and now 
occupied by the offices of the Society—and descending a 
flight of steps turns to the left by 

No. 4.—THE BEAVER POND. 

The American Beaver ( Castor fiber canadensis') has been 
so valuable to commerce in times past, that much has been 
written of its habits, and volumes have been filled with mar¬ 
velous tales of the intellectual feats which have been revealed 
to wondering authors. It is too often the case, however, in 
popular natural science, that much nonsense of almost super¬ 
stitious character has passed accepted into animal life-his¬ 
tories, with painfully misleading results. There is little doubt 
that such has been the case here; the intelligence of the 
beaver being of the primitive kind which bears relation 
only to the common and most pressing needs of life, 
while in the higher grade of reasoning power which leads its 


24 


possessor into ready adaptation to new conditions, he is 
strikingly deficient and is really a dull and stupid animal. 
The Beaver Pond at the Garden affords, perhaps, as good an 
opportunity as is possible, in confinement, of watching the 
habits of these animals,—the rough dome-shaped structure of 
mud and sticks on the island being the far-famed beaver hut, 
built by the animals themselves out of the natural materials. 
In a state of nature these huts are generally built on a small 
stream where the beavers have constructed a dam, deepening 
the pond sufficiently to keep the water from freezing to the 
bottom, so that they can get out under the ice during the win¬ 
ter. Most of their work is done during the night, but towards 
the hour in the afternoon when they are accustomed to be fed 
they may often be seen swimming about the pond and disap¬ 
pearing with a flap of the tail as they get within diving dis¬ 
tance of the entrance to the hut. 

Their food is purely vegetable, consisting mostly of the 
bark of trees and the roots of aquatic plants. They formerly 
ranged over the whole of North America, but have long since 
been almost exterminated in the Southern, Middle, and 
Eastern States, and are rapidly approaching this condition 
even in the far west. 

Our beaver is so nearly identical with that of Europe, that 
it is questionable if there is even a varietal distinction. 

No. 5—THE BEAR PITS. 

The question as to the number of species of bears which 
inhabit North America cannot yet be regarded as fully set¬ 
tled, but for the present purpose it is enough to name the 
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus'); the Grizzly Bear (£7 . 
horribilis) ; the Black Bear (U. americanus); and the Cin¬ 
namon Bear ( U . cinnamomeus). Alaska contains several 
more or less distinct forms, chiefly of the grizzly type, which 
reach a size far exceeding that of any others now known to 
exist, and perhaps equalling the extinct cave bear. The 
grizzly ranges through the whole Rocky mountain chain and 
the mountains of the Pacific coast, but in all this region they 
are now comparatively scarce; those from California being 
somewhat darker in color and reaching a larger size than 
those to the eastward. The bears known to hunters by the 
various names of “ range bear,” “ bald face,” “ silver tip,” 
and “cinnamon” are all of this species. 


25 


The black bear is found almost all over the country, to¬ 
gether with what is called the brown bear, which is merely a 
color variety of the former species, cubs of both colors being 
sometimes found in the same litter. The true brown bear is 
the Ursus arctos of northern Europe and Asia—an animal 
which presents many points of likeness, and is nearly related 
to our grizzly. The cinnamon bear is confined to the west¬ 
ern parts of the United States. 

The Ursidce, or bears, all walk on the sole of the foot, or 
are what is termed plantigrade , and with the exception of the 
grizzly and polar bear, climb trees with great facility. The 
diet is much mixed, being indiscriminately animal or vege¬ 
table ; strange to say, considering their bulky proportions, 
at certain seasons their food consists largely of snails and 
various insects. 

They are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere 
—but one true bear having yet been found south of the 
equator. 

In the large cage just behind the bear pits will be seen the 
Himalayan Bear ( Ursus tibetanus ). The male of the pair 
now in the collection is an albino. 

The walk leading to the Monkey House has rows of cages 
on each side, the contents of which are constantly changing. 
A considerable variety of owls are, however, always to be 
found among them. 

The Great Eagle Owl {Bubo ignavus ) of Europe. 

The Great Horned Owl {Bubo virginianus ), North 
America. 

The Screech Owl {Scops asio ), North America. 

The Barred Owl {Syrnium nebulosuni), North America. 

The Short-eared Owl {Brachyotus palusiris'), North 
America, Europe, and Asia. 

The Snowy Owl {Nyctea nivea ), Arctic regions. 

The Barn Owl {Strix flammea americana ), United States. 

The Acadian Owl {Nyctale acadica ), British America. 

Whitney’s Owl {Micrathene whitneyi ), Arizona. 

The Javan Fish Owl {Ketupa javanensis ), Java. 

Until within a few years, no ornithologist has doubted the 
close relationship of the owls to the other so-called “ birds of 


2 6 


prey,” and they have usually been classed as a family, 
Strigidoe, of the order Raptores. 

Recent observations on the anatomy of birds have, how¬ 
ever, shown that the resemblance is but a superficial one, and 
is slight in comparison to the differences in internal struct¬ 
ure, and the owls are now regarded as a distinct order Striges. 
The hawks, eagles, and vultures together compose the order 
Accipitres. 

The owls are mainly of nocturnal habits, their eyes being 
adapted in structure to see in the dark, and the soft, downy 
plumage with which they are generally clothed, enabling 
them to steal with noiseless flight upon the small birds, mam¬ 
mals, and reptiles which form their food. 

They range generally throughout the world, differing some¬ 
what in habit, and greatly in size, and number nearly two 
hundred species. 

The American barn owl, in rural districts commonly known 
as “ Monkey-faced Owl,” is one of the most curious of the 
group. It abounds in the Southern States, and is frequently 
found as far north as New Jersey, but its habit is so strictly 
nocturnal that it is little known to the world at large, even 
where the bird is common. Owls closely similar are found 
in almost all parts of the earth. 

The large white or snowy owl is common to the more north¬ 
ern parts of both hemispheres. It moves somewhat south in 
winter, rarely getting below the latitude of New York. 

The coloration of the owls is generally indistinct, owing to 
the downy nature of their plumage, and is subject to ah infi¬ 
nite amount of variation. 

A number of burrowing owls (Speoyto cunicularia ), are 
usually to be seen in one of these cages. These little birds 
abound on the great plains wherever prairie dogs or gophers 
are plentiful, their favorite habitation being the deserted 
holes on the outskirts of the villages. They are found also 
in South America. 

At times certain hawks are kept here. Their description 
-will be found on page 61, under Birds of Prey. 


No. 3.—THE MONKEY HOUSE. 

The building formerly occupied by the monkeys being 
contracted in size and ill-ventilated, was for many years the 
cause of complaint from visitors and of annoyance to the 


27 


management of the Garden. The result was the planning and 
erection of the present house, which was opened in the sum¬ 
mer of 1896. Its inside measurements are one hundred and 
eleven by fifty-six feet; it contains nine large cages, with cor¬ 
responding ones on the outside for summer use. A feature 
of the building is a conservatory, nearly the full length of the 
structure, on the side opposite to the cages. 

The monkeys of the Old World, or of Africa, Asia, and the 
Malayan Islands, have been arranged by naturalists in one 
great group called Catarrhini , while those of the New World 
constitute another group known as Plaiyrrhini . Two hun¬ 
dred and fourteen distinct species of monkeys and apes are 
recognized by the latest authorities; of these one hundred 
and twenty-eight belong to Africa and Asia and eighty-six 
to America. . The two groups are very well marked in 
zoological characters, the most constant of which is that 
from which they derive their name. In the Catarrhini the 
septum, or cartilage dividing the nose, is narrower at the 
bottom than at the top, so that the nostrils converge towards 
the bottom, while in the Platyrrhini the cartilage is of the 
same breadth throughout and the nostrils are therefore par¬ 
allel. The dentition of the first group is the same as that 
of man, being eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars, 
and twelve molars. 

Monkeys are omnivorous in their food habits. For the 
most part they live on fruits, buds, tender leaves, and roots, 
though many of them eat also insects, small birds, and rep¬ 
tiles. 

Apes and monkeys are classed in the same order— Pri¬ 
mates —as man, the correspondence in structure being very 
close, amounting in some of the higher groups to modifica¬ 
tions only of form. All the man-like or Anthropoid Apes— 
the Gorilla and Chimpanzee of Africa, and the Orang and 
Gibbon of India—belong to the first division. These apes can 
be captured only when young, and as they are difficult to ac¬ 
climate, they are by no means common in menageries. The 
longest period for which any of them have lived in our 
gardens, has been four years for the orang, and six and a half 
years for the chimpanzee. 

The Chimpanzee ( Anthropopithecus troglodytes ) is most 
commonly found, in company with its larger relative, the 
gorilla, on the west coast of Africa about the region of the 




28 


equator, but is known to range far eastward to the sources of 
the Nile, in Uganda, and about Lake Tanganyika. 

Divesting the chimpanzee of the many doubtful, if not 
fabulous qualities with which it has been endowed by imagi¬ 
native travelers, it remains a huge ape, attaining in the adult 
male a height of nearly five feet, devoid of a tail, possessed of 
a very considerable degree of intelligence, and having the 
ability to walk nearly erect, supporting itself by occasionally 
touching its knuckles to the ground or some upright means of 
support. 

They live together in small bands of half a dozen and are 
said to build platforms among the branches, out of boughs 
and leaves, on which they sleep; their diet is chiefly frugiv- 
orous, and they are exceedingly mild in disposition, readily 
becoming friendly and seeking the society of man when 
placed in confinement. 

These apes are looked on by the natives of their country 
as being degenerate members of their own tribe. A native 
name, “ Engeco,” means “ hold your tongue,” and evidently 
had its origin in the common belief that they refuse to speak 
purely from laziness, and in the fear that if their possession 
of the faculty should be discovered, they would be set to 
work with the strictly bipedal inhabitants of the same region. 

The Orang-utan (Simia satyrus ) is indigenous only to 
Borneo and Sumatra. They never attain the height of the 
chimpanzee, but are of heavier build and greater in extent of 
arm. Mr. Wallace gives as the maximum height of seven¬ 
teen specimens, four feet and two inches from crown to heel, 
with a distance across the outstretched arms of seven feet 
eight inches. 

They are of a sluggish and cautious disposition, and rarely- 
come down from the trees. The mental characteristics of 
these apes have been stated elsewhere, by the author, as fol¬ 
lows :— 

“ Between the orang and chimpanzee there is a marked difference in moral 
qualities. The latter is full of life, vigor, vivacity; lively and child-like in 
disposition, enjoying life to the full, and taking interest in all that goes on 
about it. Quite the reverse with the orang: it is slow, sluggish, and calcu¬ 
lating; philosophically indifferent to everything but its immediate wants,— 
voluptuary and stoic in one; life is only for the means of living, and life 
itself is hardly worth the pain of an exertion. For hours it will lie wrapped 
in a blanket, close to the front of the cage, lazily following with its eyes 
the movements of any person who comes within its range of vision, or 

slowly blinking at a straggling fly upon the glass.- American 

Naturalist. Vol. XVII. 


2 9 


It has been stated by travelers that when the weather be¬ 
comes cold or rainy, the orang wraps itself in large leaves, 
by way of protection. It is curious to observe that this 
habit is carried into captivity, for if a blanket is left in the 
cage, the animal will at once envelop itself so completely 
that nothing can be seen of it but its bright eyes peering out 
from under the folds. 

The Dyaks of Borneo call the orang by several names, the 
most common being “Mias.” The old males, to whom a 
huge callosity which grows out on each cheek, together with 
a long red beard which covers the chin and throat, gives a 
hideous appearance, are known as “ Mias-papan.” 

The specimens of these apes which are usually exhibited 
in zoological collections, are young, ranging from three to 
six or eight years old. Their development is slow, as it is 
not supposed that they reach maturity until about fifteen 
years of age. When old they generally become morose and 
vicious in disposition. 

The Gibbons are least in size and lowest in organization 
of the anthropoid apes; they inhabit parts of India, Malacca, 
and many islands of the Malayan region. They vary so in¬ 
terminably with age, sex, and locality that it seems hopeless 
to attempt to class them into species. Of those well known, 
the Active Gibbon (. Hylobates agilis) and the White-handed 
Gibbon (. H '. lar ), have been shown in the collection. 

Among the monkeys of the Old World which are commonly 
to be found in the building, is the Entellus or Sacred 
Monkey ( Semnopithecus entellus ) of India. This monkey is 
held in high respect by the human natives of its country, who 
call it “Hanuman,” after one of their deities, and allow it 
the privilege of stealing, unmolested, pretty much anything 
to which it takes a fancy—a privilege which it soon learns to 
avail itself of on every occasion. Its life is held sacred, and 
under the native rule in India, capital punishment was inflicted 
for its destruction. 

Other rare species are the Mitred Monkey ( S . mitratus'), 
the Moor Monkey ( S . maurus ), and the Purple-faced 
Monkey (S. cephalopterus ). 

The Vervet Monkey {Cercopithecus lalandi), the Green 
Monkey (C. callitrichus ), the Patas or Red Monkey (C. 
ruber), the Lesser White-nosed Monkey (C. petauristd ), the 


30 


Mozambique Monkey (C. rufo-viridis ), the beautiful Diana 
Monkey (C diana ), Campbell’s Monkey (C. campbelli ), the 
Mona Monkey (C. mona), the Malbrouck Monkey (C. cy- 
nosurus), the Sooty Mangabey ( Cercocebus fuliginosus) , the 
White-collared Mangabey (C. collaris ), and the White- 
crowned Mangabey (C. cethiops ) are all natives of Africa. 



the lion-tailed macaque. 

The macaques form a large genus of monkeys, some of 
them of large and powerful build, and, for the most part, .of 
savage and treacherous disposition. They are natives of 
Asia and the adjacent islands. Among them are the Common 
Macaque ( Macacus cynomolgus) , the Pig-tailed Macaque 
{M. nemestrinus ), the rare Leonine Macaque (M. leoninus) 
from Burmah and Yunnan, the Formosan Macaque (M. 
cyc/opis), the Rhesus Monkey (M. erythrows' ), the Lion¬ 
tailed Macaque (M. silenus ), the Toque (M. pileatus), the 










3i 


! Bonnet Macaque (M. radiatus), the Moor Macaque (Af. 
maurus), and the Brown Macaque (M. arctoides). 

The Japanese Monkey (J/. fuscatus ) ranges further north 
than any other of the group, and the specimens in the Garden 
remain out of doors through the winter, thoroughly enjoying, 
both cold and snow. 

The Barbary Ape (. M\ inuus ) is the only member of the 
genus found outside of Asia, its home being North Africa. A 
few individuals are also found about Gibraltar, in Spain, but 
it is probable that they were introduced there originally 
through the agency of man. 

The Black Ape ( Cynopithecus niger ), from the Philippine 
Islands, is related to the last genus. 

The genus Papio forms the group known as baboons, among 
which are some of the largest and most fierce of the order. 
The Hamadryas (. Papio hamadryas ) comes from Arabia and 
North Africa, while the Chacma (P. porcarius ), the Doguera 
Baboon (P. doguera ), the Guinea Baboon ( P . sphinx ), the 
Mandrill (P. mormon ), the Drill (P. leucophceus ), and the 
Anubis Baboon ( P . anubis ) are natives of Africa. They 
can all be recognized by their long, dog-like noses, in some 
cases projecting beyond the lips. 

Although these monkeys are coarse and brutal in their be¬ 
havior towards man, they are capable of*a high degree of 
attachment among themselves. 

A remarkable instance of this is given by Brehm, who once 
saw a troop of baboons crossing a valley; while so doing they 
were attacked by his dogs, and fled up the hills, leaving be¬ 
hind one young one, which, unable to run away, had climbed 
a rock in the middle of the valley. Those on the hillside 
deliberated for a time, and finally a large male returned to 
the spot, drove off the dogs, picked up the young one, and 
retreated with it in safety. 

The American monkeys differ in many respects from the 
preceding group; in dentition, which in the Cebidce , includ¬ 
ing all but the marmosets, has one premolar tooth added on 
each side of the jaw; in the absence of a thumb in almost all 
the members of one large genus ( Ateles ) ; in the entire ab¬ 
sence of the cheek-pouches and the callosities on the haunches, 
which are so conspicuous in most of the Catarrhini and in 
the presence of a highly prehensile tail in several genera. 
None of them attain the size of the largest of the first group,, 
and they are generally more tractable in disposition. 


32 


The howlers form a remarkable group in which the vocal 
apparatus is modified in a manner such as to pour forth a 
volume of sound so great as to suggest their distinctive name. 
The Mantled Howler ( Alouatta palliatus ), Brown Howler 
( A.fuscus ), Red Howler (A. senicula ), and Black Howler 
( A . niger) belong to this group. 

The Grey Lagothrix ( Lagothrix humboldti') and the 
Black Saki ( Pithecia satanas ) are natives of Brazil. The 
males of the latter species have a thick beard covering the 
lower part of the face and the throat. 

The Ateles or Spider Monkeys are characterized by the 
absence of a thumb; although in several species it is present 
in a rudimentary condition ; they have a prehensile tail, 
lined on the tip with a very sensitive skin, which answers the 
purpose of a hand in suspending themselves from the branches 
of the trees among which they altogether live. They are 
very delicate, and do not long withstand the severities of our 
climate. 

The Black Spider Monkey (. Ateles ater), the Brown 
Spider Monkey ( A . hybridus ), the Chuva ( A . marginatus), 
the Marimonda (. A . belzebuth), and the Black-handed 
Spider Monkey (A. geoffroyi) are usually to be seen here. 

The Brown Capucin ( Cebus fatuellus ), the Weeper Ca- 
pucin (C. capucinus ), and the White-throated Capucin (C. 
hypoleucus ) are all small monkeys of the kind usually trained 
for circus performances and organ-grinders. These, with 
the Ti-ti or Squirrel Monkey ( Saimaris sciurea ), all be¬ 
long to the family Cebidce . 

A rare and little-known member of the Cebidce, a specimen 
of which has been exhibited by the Society, is the Red 
Ouakari (. Brachyurus rubicundus ), from Brazil. 

The Common Marmoset (. Hapale jacchus ), the Black¬ 
eared Marmoset (AT. pencil lata), the Pinche (. Midas ce dipus), 
the Silky Marmoset (J/. rosalia), and Geoffroy’s Mar¬ 
moset (M. geoffroyi) are small and beautiful monkeys from 
the hottest parts of tropical America. They are frequently 
kept as pets, but being of frail constitution, they suffer from 
the slightest approach to cold, and it is hardly possible to 
keep them for exhibition. 


33 


A curious genus of small monkeys of nocturnal habits is 
found in the interior of South America. They are gentle 
and timid in disposition, and pass most of the day in sleep. 
The Three-banded Douroucouli (. Nyctipithecus trivirgatus ), 
is the most common of these monkeys. 

The monkeys of the New World range from about twenty- 
three degrees north to thirty degrees south latitude; the 
extreme northern point which they reach in the eastern 
hemisphere being in Japan, about forty-one degrees north 
latitude. 

A considerable group of animals of curious organization, 
many of whose forms resemble apes, while others reach off 
towards the lower types of animals, constitutes the order 
Lemures —Lemurs or Half-apes. They are all nocturnal, live 
in trees, and feed on fruits, insects, and small birds and 
quadrupeds. They number some fifty species, and are native 
to south-eastern Asia, central Africa, and the island of Mada¬ 
gascar, which contains a large proportion of the whole num¬ 
ber of species. Of those sometimes seen in the collection— 
the Grand Galago ( Galago crassicaudata) is from Mozam¬ 
bique, and the Mongoose Lemur {Lemur mongoz), the 
Ring-tailed Lemur (Z. eatta ), the Black Lemur (Z. 
macaco) , the Ruffed Lemur (Z. varius), and the White- 
fronted Lemur (Z. albifrons) are all natives of Madagascar. 
The Black Lemur is remarkable for the great difference 
which marks the sexes, the male being generally coal black, 
sometimes with a brownish tinge, while the female is of a 
light reddish or gray brown on the body, with a white ruff 
around the face. The Slow Loris (. Nycticebus tardigradus ) 
belongs to the tailless section of the group and is not un¬ 
common in collections, while Coquerel’s Dwarf-lemur 
{Microcebus coquereli ), from Madagascar is more rare. 
Lemuroid animals abounded in the Eocene period, and out 
of them were undoubtedly developed the Primates and prob¬ 
ably other orders. 

No. 12.—THE RESTAURANT. 

The Restaurant is on the right of the prescribed route 
after leaving the Eagle Aviary, and offers to the hungry 
visitor, ample facilities for supplying his necessities. 

Close by will be found the stand for donkeys. 


34 


No. 7.—THE ELEPHANT HOUSE. 

This building was completed in 1875, and cost about 
$38,000. It is one hundred and ninety-five feet long, and 
affords ample accommodations for many of the larger animals. 

Immediately adjoining it is a large pond in which the 
elephants are bathed every afternoon during hot weather. 
Besides being a popular means of diversion to visitors, 
the use of water is a necessity to these animals; their 
skin being exceedingly porous, becomes readily clogged up if 
they are not kept clean, with the result of lessening the 
amount of perspiration, which is one of the chief means of 
removing waste matter from the system, and is absolutely 
necessary to a pure state of the blood. 

A large proportion of the animals in this building belong to 
the order Un^ulala, or hoofed animals, comprising those in 
which the nail grows around the ends of the extremities and 
envelops them in a horny sheath known as the hoof. Some 
of these have one or three toes developed, while another 
group has two or four toes equally complete, the others being 
rudimentary. For purposes of convenience, therefore, the 
existing ungulates have been classed into two sub-orders, the 
Perissodactyla, or odd-toed, as the horse, rhinoceros, and 
tapir, and the Artiodactyla, or even-toed, comprising all the 
split-hoofed animals, as deer, oxen, swine, &c. They are all 
vegetable eaters, and are found in all but the Australian 
region. 

The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa ) of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 
the Javan Swine ( Sus vittatus ), the Red River-hog (. Pota - 
mochcerus porcus ), and the ^Ethiopian Wart Hog ( Phaco - 
chcerus athiopicus ) belong to the family Suidce, or Swine. The 
latter remarkable-looking animal has several fleshy protuber¬ 
ances on the face, looking almost like horns. It is believed 
that these warts have been developed by reason of their serv¬ 
ing to protect the eyes from the upward strokes of the tusks 
in the desperate battles which the males wage against each 
other. 

The peccaries are not true swine, but they do not depart 
widely enough to be entirely separated from the group. 
The Collared Peccary (. Dicotyles tajacu ) ranges from the 
south-western United States into South America, and the 
White-lipped Peccary (D. labiatus) somewhat more southern 


35 


in distribution, and confined to South America. They are 
savage little animals, and, as they herd together in consid¬ 
erable numbers, they are regarded as dangerous enemies by 
both man and beast. They are not difficult to domesticate 
when taken young, but the presence of a pair of dorsal glands, 
secreting an unpleasant fluid, which is apt to taint the meat 
after death, greatly lessens their value to man. The flesh in 
any case is tasteless and dry. 


The enormous animals which form the order called Pro - 
boscidea , from the peculiar elongation of their nose into a 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 














36 

proboscis or trunk, are found at the present time in the 
warmer parts of Asia, in the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and 
Ceylon, and also in central and southern Africa. 

There are two species, differing very appreciably,—the 
Indian Elephant (.Elephas indicus ) has a concave forehead, 
comparatively small ears, and has four nails developed on the 
hind feet, while the African Elephant (.Elephas africanus ) 
has a rounder forehead, much larger ears, and has three nails 
on the hind foot instead of four. The pattern of the crowns 
of the molar teeth is also different. The incisor teeth, or 
tusks, as they are called, grow to an enormous size, but are 
rarely possessed by the female Indian elephant. 

“ Bolivar, ” the large male in the collection, was presented 
to the Society by Mr. Adam Forepaugh on the twenty-fifth 
of December, 1888, and is probably the largest elephant in 
captivity, measuring nearly ten feet in height at the shoulder 
and weighing about ten thousand pounds. The other elephants 
at present in this building are “ Empress,” purchased in 1876, 
at which time she was about three years old, and “ Kaiserin,” 
presented in 1902. The last was probably born about 1898. 

The elephant is in reality a smaller animal than is com¬ 
monly supposed, careful measurements of large numbers 
in India showing that they average less than nine feet in 
height, and rarely exceed ten. They are believed to be fully 
grown at from twenty-five to thirty years of age. The ordi¬ 
nary life of the elephant is supposed to be about a hundred 
years, although in special cases they undoubtedly live much 
longer. 

The fact is given, on the authority of Sir Emerson Ten- 
nent, that the British, after their capture of the Island of 
Ceylon, in 1799, had in their service an elephant which was 
proved by the records to have served the Dutch during the 
whole term of their occupancy,—something like a hundred 
and forty years. 

The elephant lives wholly on vegetable diet. 

The Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). There 
are five or six species of rhinoceros found in Africa and Asia, 
the distribution of the animal being almost identical with 
that of the elephant. All the species, with the excep¬ 
tion of this and the Javan rhinoceros, have two horns, one 
immediately behind the other. 

Quite a number of fossil rhinoceroses have been discovered 


37 


in the middle and later Tertiary, so that those now existing 
may be looked upon as the last of an expiring line, and they 
are, in fact, disappearing so rapidly that while some one of the 
African species is now and then available, it is doubtful if 
the Society will ever be able to replace “Pete,” the huge 
male of the Indian species, who died in 1901, after spending 
twenty-seven years in the Garden. 

The native country of the Giraffe ( Giraffa Camelopardalis ) 
is the central and eastern part of Africa, from about the 
tenth or fifteenth degree of north latitude almost to the 
Cape; but in most parts of this vast region they are now 
scarce, few, if any, being found south of Mashonaland. 
They are found in small herds, browsing on the branches of 
such trees as may be within their reach. Their long legs 
unfit them for feeding on the ground, as it is a work of much 
difficulty for the giraffe, by straddling its fore legs widely 
apart, to get its nose down to the level on which it stands. 

It is a ruminant, closely related to the antelopes. The 
horns, or protuberances on the head, are never shed, but 
are composed of solid bone, covered with skin like the re¬ 
mainder of the skull. 

As with the elephant, the height of the giraffe is much 
over-estimated in popular opinion ; it probably does not 
average over sixteen feet. They are very delicate in con¬ 
stitution, and in our climate require the most careful atten¬ 
tion. 

Of late years few giraffes have been shipped from Africa, 
and at the present time they are costly luxuries in collections 
which possess them. 

At present the Society does not possess a hippopotamus, 
which was formerly kept in this building, but it is hoped that 
this want may be supplied, and a special and suitable building 
be erected for their care. 

There are two species of the animal, one of small size, 
found on the west coast of Africa, and the better known one 
(.Hippopotamus amphibius')— the River-horse of the ancients— 
found in many of the African rivers. Being of great bulk, 
with disproportionately short legs, they are clumsy out of 
water, although they forage freely at night among the grain 
fields, where cultivation is carried on along the river banks, 
doing much damage, not only by the amount carried off in 


38 


their capacious stomachs, but by the broad trail of crushed 
and broken herbage they leave behind them. They feed also 
on river grasses which grow along the water’s edge, as well as 
on the bottom, on which their weight enables them to walk. 
The name of “river-horse” was suggested by a somewhat 
fanciful resemblance between the profile of the face and that 
of the horse—this is sometimes apparent when the animal is 
lying submerged in the water with no part visible but the 
frontal outline. 

The South American Tapir ( Tapirus terrestris), as before 
stated, belongs to the same division of ungulates as the horse 
and rhinoceros, though in appearance it somewhat resembles 
the swine. The natives of the regions which it inhabits con¬ 
sider it to be very good eating. It is fond of the water, div¬ 
ing and swimming with great ease, and is rarely found far 
from the banks of some lake or stream. Their common re¬ 
sort is the dense thickets of undergrowth, where they lie con¬ 
cealed from danger. D’Azara says of them:— 

“ It is also remarked that when the jaguar pounces upon them, they 
rush headlong through the thickest parts of the woods, until they force 
him to quit his hold, passing through narrow and intricate places. The 
Mborebi, indeed, never frequents a beaten road or pathway, but breaks 
and pushes through whatever it encounters with its head, which it always 
carries very low. It flies all danger, and anticipates it by means of its 
strong nocturnal vision and its acute sense of hearing.” 

There are several not very well defined species in South 
and Central America and one in south-eastern Asia. Of this 
species (Tapirus indicus) the Society exhibited a speci¬ 
men some years ago. It is much larger than the South 
American form, and has a grayish-white patch marked out 
like a saddle-cloth over the back and sides from the shoulders 
to the rump—from this it derives its popular name of Sad¬ 
dle-backed Tapir. 

No. 8.—THE SEAL PONDS. 

The seals are an order of carnivorous mammals, living 
mainly in the water, but at stated periods during the year 
leaving their natural element and remaining for several 
months above the water line. The Society has exhibited 
several species of these interesting animals. 


39 


The Common or Spotted Seal (. Phoca vitulina ) is found 
in all the seas encircling northern Europe, Asia, and America, 
rarely being seen on our coast below Maine, except in winter, 
when it sometimes finds its way as far south as Chesapeake 
Bay. It is the type of the Phocidcz , or Earless Seals, of which 
it is the smallest. Like all seals, they live on fish, which in a 
state of nature they catch with great address. Quite a num¬ 
ber of seals of this group have been shown in the Garden, 
one of which, a specimen of the Hooded Seal ( Cystophora 
cristata), was captured on the New Jersey coast near Long 
Branch. 

Another rare species, examples of which have twice been 
exhibited, is the West Indian Seal (. Monachus tropicalis ), 
formerly not uncommon throughout the Caribbean Sea, from 
which it has now disappeared with the exception of a few of 
the more remote islands and keys. 

One of the ponds is occupied by a number of Gillespie's 
Hair Seal or Sea Lion (, Zalophus calif or mantis'). This 
species is found in large numbers on the Pacific Coast of the 
United States; those in the Garden having been captured at 
the San Miguel Islands, off the coast of California, not far 
from Santa Barbara; they are common at Seal Rock, just 
outside of the entrance to the bay of San Francisco, and a 
closely allied species is found in the waters of the same lati¬ 
tude on the Asiatic side of the Pacific. 

The differences between this species and the Northern Sea 
Lion ( Enmetopias stelleri ) are mainly in size, the latter grow¬ 
ing much larger, and also in some details of the skull and 
teeth. The male hair seal, when adult, weighs three or four 
times as much as the female, and is provided with enormous 
canine teeth, with which they fight terrible battles at the 
season of rutting, often injuring each other severely; they 
are of a savage and dangerous disposition, and are ugly an¬ 
tagonists even to man. 

They swim and float with great address, sleeping on the 
surface of the water ; they remain at sea during eight or nine 
months of the year, coming out on shore in vast numbers at 
the season of breeding, where they remain in some cases as 
much as three months without food or water. On land they 
progress with more ease than is common with other seals, by 
a gait somewhat like the canter of a horse ; they climb rocks 
easily, and throw themselves from a height of ten or fifteen 
feet into the water or on the rocks without damage—their 


40 


tough skins and a layer of fat several inches thick, which lies 
immediately beneath, protecting them from injury. They 
are representatives of the family of eared seals ( Otarida ), all 
of which are of large size, and are readily distinguished by 
the possession of an external ear, which is never more than 
an inch and a half long and is rolled tightly in the shape of 
a cone. There are seven or eight species of these seals, all 
being confined to the Pacific Ocean, where they range from 
the Arctic to the Antarctic region, one species only being 
sometimes found up the Atlantic coast of South America as 
far as Brazil. The fur seals belong to this group ; the under¬ 
coat of fur being very soft and thick in them, and supplying 
the seal-skin of commerce. 

When fully adult the males are seven or eight feet long, 
and weigh from five to six hundred pounds; the females 
weighing not over a fourth as much. 

Some years since the Society procured a number of the 
northern Elephant Seal or Sea-Elephant (Macrorhinus 
angustirostris). These animals received much attention on 
account of their extreme rarity; the ones formerly in the 
possession of the Society being the only ones which have 
ever been captured alive for purposes of exhibition. 

For many years the elephant seal was known to exist in 
the antarctic region of the Pacific, and about 1850, they 
were observed in small numbers on some of the uninhabited 
islands off the coast of lower California. These were subse¬ 
quently found to be quite distinct from the southern form. 
When adult, the males are usually from sixteen to eighteen 
feet long, although some have been seen nearly thirty feet 
in length and weighing probably seven or eight tons. The 
females are much smaller. 

The peculiarity from which they derive their name is a- 
curiously elongated snout, which in the adult male reaches a 
length of eighteen inches, and somewhat resembles the trunk 
of an elephant. 

They belong to the group of earless seals, and are the 
largest of marine mammals excepting the whale, although from 
the little that is known of their habits, they appear to be of a 
quiet and inoffensive disposition. The California species is 
nearly extinct, having been slaughtered for the oil and blub¬ 
ber which they yield in large quantities. 


41 


No. io.—THE ANTELOPE OR DEER 
HOUSE. 

This building was completed in 1877, and affords accom¬ 
modation at present for a somewhat varied assortment of 
herbivorous animals. 

Several species of zebra and quagga, are found in Africa, 
and also of wild asses in south-western Asia. The most 
beautiful of all these, in pattern and shade of coloring, is 
Burchell’s Zebra (Equus burchelli ), which ranges in large 
herds over the plains north of the Orange river, in Africa. 
The so-called Chapman’s zebra comes from farther north, 



chapman’s zebra. 

and is probably of the same species. It is a well-known 
fact that some horses, especially those of a dun color, have 
indications of the spinal stripe and those on the inside of the 
legs, which are possessed by nearly all the wild species, which 
resemblance is held to indicate the relationship of the horse 
of the present epoch to some such antecedent form. A 




42 


mouse-dun colored work-horse recently belonging to the 
Society had these stripes plainly marked. 

Another zebra, formerly well known in menageries, is the 
Mountain Zebra (. Equus zebra), in which the cream body 
color of the former species is replaced by white. This 
species inhabited the extreme south of Africa, in which pop¬ 
ulation has increased to such an extent that the animal is 
now nearly extinct. 

A fine species of wild ass is found in central and south¬ 
western Asia, with several not very well-defined varieties. 
A pair of the form inhabiting Persia (. Equus hemiorius onager) 
will be seen next to the zebras. 

The Cape Buffalo ( Bos caffer ), is found over a large 
portion of Africa. The old bulls are marked by an extraor¬ 
dinary growth of the horns, which extend completely over 
the forehead, almost meeting in the middle line. They grow 
to a large size, and are so savage and vindictive in disposi¬ 
tion that many experienced hunters regard them as the most 
dangerous game animals inhabiting Africa. 

One formerly in the collection was of a variety found in 
north-eastern Africa ( B . caffer cequinociialis). 

The Eland (Oreas canna). This truly magnificent animal 
is the largest of the antelopes, the great home of which is in 
Africa; this species being from the southern part. The ante¬ 
lopes are generally of small or medium size ; the eland, how¬ 
ever, is frequently of the size and weight of a large horse. 
Like many antelopes formerly common, they are now rarely 
to be seen in collections. 

The Oryx ( Oryx leucoryx) is another of the innumerable 
tribe of antelopes inhabiting Africa. It is conspicuous for its 
long, slightly curved, and tapering horns, which, as it is ex¬ 
ceedingly quick in its motions, it uses with much effect upon 
an enemy. The lion has more than once been met and pierced 
to the heart by these terrible horns when he thought to se¬ 
cure, without danger, an unresisting prey. The species is 
from the north of Africa. 

Other members of the antelope family are the Nylghaie 
(-Boselaphus pictus ), often called in India the Blue Bull, the 
Brindled Gnu (Connochetesgorgon) , the White-tailed Gnu 
C. gnu), the Beisa Antelope ( Oryx beisa), the Bubaline 




43 


Antelope ( Alcelaphus bubalis ), the Sing-sing ( Cobus unciu- 
osus ), the Sable Antelope (. Hippoiragus niger ), the Dorcas 
Gazelle ( Gazella dorcas ), Persian Gazelle (G. subguttu- 
rosa), and the Indian Antelope (. Antilope cervicapra). The 
gnus are found in large herds about the Orange river, in south 
Africa. The gazelles inhabit south-western Asia and north¬ 
ern Africa, and, being docile and of exquisite grace in propor¬ 
tions and movement, are much sought by the Arabs as pets. 

The Harnessed Antelope ( Tragelaphus scripius) is 
marked on the body with white stripes looking much like a 
harness. 

The Crowned Bush Buck ( Cephalophus coronatus ) is one 
of a group of small antelopes found in eastern and southern 
Africa, where they are known as Duikers. They are of shy 
and retiring habits, and rarely come out of the thick bush in 
which they live. 

The Rusine or Sambur Deer, of which Cervus hippela- 
phus, from Java, and C. equinus , from the Malayan Islands, 
are examples, are found throughout the Indo-Malayan region, 
and are large and stately animals. The Axis Deer ( Cervus 
axis'), also from India, the Naked-eared Deer ( Cariacus 
gymnotis ), the Red Brocket (C. rufus), from South America, 
the Yucatan Deer (C. toltecus ), and the Muntjac or Bark¬ 
ing Deer ( Cervulus muntjac ) of India are also in this build¬ 
ing during the winter. 

A group of four or five small ungulates, nearly related to 
the deer, and found only in India and Malaysia, forms the 
family Tragulidce —muis deer or chevrotains. None of them 
have antlers, but in place of these, as weapons, the males 
have a pair of projecting canine teeth in the upper jaw. 
These little deer never exceed twelve or fourteen inches in 
height at the shoulder. The collection has contained the 
Indian Chevrotain ( Tragulus ?neminna), from India and 
Ceylon; the Javan Chevrotain (T. javanicus) ; and T. 
Stanley anus, from Java. 

The Great Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). 

The Red Kangaroo (M. rufus ). 

The Robust Kangaroo (M. robustus ). 

The Derbian Wallaby (M. derbianus). 

Bennett’s Wallaby (M. bennetti). 

The Black Wallaby (M. ualabatus ). 


44 


The Rufous-necked Wallaby (M. ruficollis ). 

The Short-tailed Wallaby ( M \ brachyurus). 

The Black-striped Wallaby ( Mdorsalis). 

The Brush-tailed Kangaroo ( Petrogale pencillata ). 

The kangaroos inhabit the continent of Australia, Tas¬ 
mania, New Guinea, and other of the adjacent islands ; they, 
in common with nearly the whole mammalian fauna of the 
Australian region, belong to the order Marsupialia. 

These animals derive their name (Greek, marsupion —a 
purse) from a pouch or bag situated on the lower part of the 
abdomen in the female, and containing the teats. The 
young animal being born—so to speak—prematurely, is in an 
undeveloped condition, and is at once placed by the mother 



the great kangaroo. 



45 


in this pouch, where it attaches itself to a nipple and remains 
for some weeks until it has attained a weight of several 
pounds, when it gradually begins to come forth. It does not 
permanently leave the bag until it has grown so large as to 
be of an inconvenient size for the mother to carry about. 
The order is a large one, and outside of the Australian region 
contains only the opossums of America. It presents a striking 
variety of habits and adaptations of form among its members ; 
many of the other mammalian orders being represented by 
marsupial forms, which agree, more or less perfectly, with 
them in habits. 

The kangaroos fill a number of places in the economy of 
their native regions—there being brush kangaroos, rock kan¬ 
garoos, and tree kangaroos, all of which are equally at home 
in the surroundings indicated by their respective names. 

The wallabys are a sub-group of kangaroos, differing slightly 
in structure. 

The Rufous Rat Kangaroo (sEflrymnus rufescens) and 
Gaimard’s Rat Kangaroo (Bettongia gaimardi') are small 
species from New South Wales. 

All of the kangaroos are strictly herbivorous; most of them 
are hardy, breed readily, and might be acclimated in parks in 
the warmer temperate parts of the United States, with little 
difficulty. 

Marsupials are probably near to the primitive ancestral 
mammals, fossil teeth having been found in the Jurassic forma¬ 
tion, near Oxford, England, and also in the United States, 
the possessors of which without doubt belonged to this 
group, and in modern systems of classification they stand 
next to the lowest mammals; the Monotremata , consisting of 
two forms peculiar to Australia, being at the bottom. These 
Strange animals, although of the mammalian class, possess 
Certain structures of reptilian type, which affinity is even 
more strangely shown by the now established fact that 
they, alone among mammals, lay eggs which are hatched 
outside of the body of the parent, as in birds and many 
reptiles. 

The society was fortunate enough in 1887 to secure a 
specimen of the Echidna, sometimes called the Spiny Ant- 
eater (.Echidna hystrix ), which lived for some months, an 
object of great interest to all classes of visitors. A second 
example has lived, at the present time, nearly a year in the 
Small Mammal House. 


46 


There are several distinct forms of Ostrich found in 
Africa. The one known as the Northern Ostrich ( Struthio 
camelus) has the naked skin of the legs and neck of a bright 
pink flesh color. Another form from southern Africa ( Struthio 
australis ) has the same parts of a dull lead color, while the 
plates on the front of the lower leg and the gape of the bill 
are red. 

They are natives of the hot, dry plains in the interior of 
Africa, over which they range in small flocks of rarely more 
than half a dozen, subsisting mainly on a species of melon 
which grows wild in those parts. The sexes are readily dis¬ 
tinguished, the males, which furnish the choicest feathers, 
being black and white, while the females are gray. The ostrich 
is the largest known bird now existing, its head sometimes 
reaching to a height of eight feet above the ground. Its long 
legs give it great speed—some writers having estimated its 
pace, when first startled, at fifty miles an hour. Its feet, pad¬ 
ded beneath like those of the camel, adapt it to coursing over 
the shifting, movable sands of its native regions without 
sinking. 

The wings are reduced to mere rudiments, as in all the 
struthious birds, and are utterly useless for purposes of flight. 
It is said, however, that the ostrich spreads them and uses 
them as sails when—to use a nautical term—running before 
the wind. 

Ostrich farming has been practiced in the Cape Colony for 
a long time, and within a few years has been introduced with 
some success into southern California and Florida. 

The cassowaries are also kept in this building. There are 
some half dozen species of the genus Casuarius , mainly dif¬ 
fering in the shape of the helmet on the head and the 
number and arrangement of the wattles hanging from the 
neck; all are natives of northern Australia, New Guinea, 
and a few neighboring islands. They belong to the order of 
struthious birds, with the ostrich, rhea, emu, and apteryx, 
all of which are characterized by great development of the 
lower limbs and loss of the power of flight. 

The Common Cassowary ( Casuarius galeafus') is from the 
island of Ceram, in the Indian Ocean, and Beccari’s Casso¬ 
wary (C. beccarii) inhabits New Guinea and the Aru Islands, 
while Casuarius australis , a fine species, is a native of Australia. 
The feathers of these birds are of a peculiarly filamentous or 
hair-like character, entirely wanting in the webs which spring 


47 


from the sides of the shaft in ordinary feathers. They are 
birds of great power and endurance, rivaling even the ostrich 
in those qualities as well as in the famous powers of digestion 
which are so notorious in the latter bird. 

Other members of the Struthiones are the Rhea ( Rhea 
americana ) from the plains of South America, and the Emu 
(.Dromceus novce-hollandice ) of Australia, the latter bird reach¬ 
ing nearly the proportions of the ostrich. 

New Zealand contains the small flightless birds known as 
Apteryx or Kiwis. Small as they are, they are the last rep¬ 
resentatives of the gigantic Moa, once known in that island, 
but now extinct. Mantell’s Kiwi (. Apteryx mantelli ) in¬ 
habits the north island ; while the southern one is the home 
of Owen’s Kiwi ( A . oweni'). They are grotesque creatures, 
with disproportionately long bills, with which they bore into 
the mud after worms and insects, much in the manner of the 
woodcock. They are strictly nocturnal, and the visitor is 
rarely treated to a view. The accompanying plate is from a 
photograph taken in the Garden by flashlight. 



mantell’s apteryx. 








48 


No. 24.—THE AVIARY. 

This building was constructed during the aummer and fall 
of 1881, and was opened to the public in March of the fol¬ 
lowing year. The north annex, containing the large series 
of parrots, was added in 1900. 

The order Passeres is the largest of all the higher groups, 
and includes more than one-half of the whole class of birds; 
all the songsters belong to it, and most of the birds familiar 
in our midst. 

The thrushes are represented here by the Wood Thrush 
(7 urdus mustelinus ) of America, the Robin (T 7 . migratorius ), 
the English Blackbird (T. merula ), the Mocking Bird ( T ' 
polyglottus ), the Cat Bird (G. Carolinensis ), the Mocking 
Bird Thrush (. Mimocichla rubripes ), from Cuba, and a num¬ 
ber of other species. 

The Long-tailed Weaver Bird ( Chera progne). This 
species may be known by the great elongation of the central 
tail-feathers of the male. These reach so great a length that 
a celebrated African traveler says of them:— 

“ I am informed that in the breeding season, when the male has assumed 
his nuptial livery and long tail-feathers, his flight is so labored that the 
children constantly run them down. They are quite unable to fly against the 
wind, and in rainy weather can hardly be got to move out of the thick bushes 
in which, knowing their helplessness, they conceal themselves. 

“ The Kaffir children stretch bird-limed lines across the fields of millet and 
Kaffir com, and snare great numbers of the males by their tails becoming 
entangled in the lines.— Layard , “Birds of South Africa .” 

The weaver or whidah birds are noted fof the peculiar nests 
which they weave from grass; these are mostly built on the 
community system, hundreds of the birds constructing to¬ 
gether a sort of roof under which they separately build their 
nests. These nests are of different shapes, some of them 
much resembling a chemist’s retort, with the neck down, the 
orifice serving as entrance for all the birds whose dwellings 
are within. They are all natives of Africa. 

The birds of the genus Pyromelana are conspicuous by the 
livery of black and brilliant yellow or orange worn by the 
males during part of the year; the Bishop Weaver ( P.fran - 
ciscana), and the Black-bellied Weaver (P. afer ), being 
among them. 



49 


The Larger Hill Mynah (. Mainatus intermedins ), the Com¬ 
mon Mynah (Acridotheres tristis ), and the Brown Mynah (. A . 
fuscus) belong to an East Indian group, many of which 
learn to talk with much readiness. 

More or less allied to these are the starlings of the old 
world and the blackbirds and troupials of the new. Con¬ 
spicuous examples of these are the Purple Grackle or Black¬ 
bird ( Quiscalus quiscula ), the Red-winged Blackbird 
(Agelceus phoeniceus), and the Cowbird ( Molothrus pecoris') 
of North America, the Baltimore Oriole ( Icterus Baltimore ), 
the Yellow Troupial ( Xanthosomus flavus), and others of 
the group from Central and South America, and the Common 
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris'). 



THE HORNBILL. 




The Reed Bird, Rice Bird, or Bobolink (. Dolichonyx 
oryzivorus ), is well known to epicures. They migrate in vast 
numbers from south to north at the approach of summer and 
back again towards autumn, at which time they become very 
fat on the ripened seed of the reeds which grow on marsh 
lands along the rivers near the coast, and are shot in great 
numbers as a table delicacy. 

The Common Crow ( Corvus americanus ) and the Raven 
(C. carnivorus ) are the leading American members of the 
family Corvidce. The latter is now rarely found east of the 
Mississippi river, but is common in great numbers through¬ 
out the West. Others of the family are the European 
Magpie (Pica pica), Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), and 
Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) found in Europe; 
the White-backed Piping Crow (Gymnorhina leuconota) 
and the Butcher Crow (Barita destructor ), both of Aus¬ 
tralia, the Blue Jay (Cyanurus cristatus), of North America, 
the American Magpie (Pica pica hudsonica ), closely resem¬ 
bling his European brother, the Chough (Pyrrhocorax gracu- 
tus), of Europe, the Pileated Jay (Cyanocorax pileata ), a 
strikingly beautiful bird from southern Brazil, the Peruvian 
Jay (Xanthoura ynca) , the Yucatan Jay (X. yucatanica) of 
Central America, the Blue-bearded Jay (C. cyanopogon), and 
other species, commonly found in the collection. 

The order Picarice is represented by the woodpeckers, king¬ 
fishers, cuckoos, toucans, hornbills, and trogons. 

At the present time the Society is fortunate enough to 
- exhibit a pair of Concave-casqued Hornbills (Dichoceros 
bicornis ), and a single specimen of the Rhinoceros Hornbill 
(Buceros rhinoceros ), both natives of the Indo-Malayan 
region. These huge and grotesque birds are not often so 
well represented in collections. 

The Giant Kingfisher or Laughing Jackass (Dacelo gi- 
gas) is the largest of the kingfishers, and inhabits Australia. 
It differs somewhat in habits from most of the immediate 
group to which it belongs, living in the woods, frequently far 
from water; its diet is also more mixed than is customary 
with its kind, as it eats not only fish, but small quadrupeds, 
birds, and reptiles. 


5i 


Its common name is derived from its cry, which has a 
striking resemblance to a hoarse laugh. 

The common kingfisher of our country, which is often 
seen sitting motionless on a branch over the water, watching 
intently for a small fish to pass within its reach, is the Belted 
Kingfisher ( Ceryle alcyoti). 

Quite a number of cuckoos are in existence throughout the 
world, some five or six being natives of America. The 
Chaparral Cock ( Geococcyx californianus) of Texas and 
Arizona, also known as Road Runner, from the extraordi¬ 
nary speed with which it runs, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo 
(Coccyzus americanus), and the Black-billed Cuckoo (C. 
erythopthalmus ), belong to this family. 



THE LAUGHING JACKASS. 

The American cuckoos seem to be free from the strange 
habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, a para¬ 
sitical mode of providing for the young which is shared by a 
few unrelated species, as the American Cowbird, but which 
is more fully developed in the birds of this family, and nota¬ 
bly in the Common Cuckoo ( Cuculus canorum) of Europe. 

The Toco Toucan ( Rhamphastos toco). 

Cuvier’s Toucan ( R. cuvieri). 

Ariel Toucan ( R. arid). 

The Sulphur-breasted Toucan (R. carinatus). 

The Green-billed Toucan ( R . dicolorus). 

Maximilian’s Aracari ( Pteroglossus wiedi). 


52 


The toucans are found only in tropical America, and will 
be readily recognized by the size and brilliant coloring of 
their bills,—large and unwieldy-as these seem to be, they are 
in reality very light, being entirely filled with a honey-comb 
of air-cells. The plumage is richly colored, and has a pe¬ 
culiar satin-like softness of texture. The toucans are in a 
measure carnivorous, and often prey upon smaller birds. 

“ Common as these birds are in their native wilds, it is exceedingly dif¬ 
ficult to detect their breeding-places; it is certain that they deposit their 
eggs in the hollow limbs and holes of the colossal trees so abundant in 
the tropical forests, but I was never so fortunate as to discover them. 
* * * In their manners, the Rhamphastidce offer some resemblance to 

the Corvida and especially to the magpies; like them they are very trou¬ 
blesome to the birds of prey, particularly to the owls, which they surround 
and annoy by making a great noise, all the while jerking their tails up¬ 
wards and downwards. The flight of these birds is easy and graceful, 
and they sweep with ease over the loftiest trees of their native forest.” 
(Prince Maximilian of Wied.) 

There are a number of species, beautifully illustrated by 
Mr. Gould, in a 4 ‘Monograph of the Rhamphastidse .* 1 

The Psittaci , comprising the macaws, parrots, parrakeets, 
and cockatoos, is a large and varied order, numbering some 
five hundred species, which are found throughout tropical 
America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Among them are some 
of the most splendid specimens of their class; many of them 
learn to talk and imitate various sounds with facility, and 
they are much kept as pets. 

Among the largest and most gorgeously colored of the 
group are the macaws. These superb birds live in large 
flocks in the forests of Central and South America, where 
their brilliant colors vie in intensity with the tropical veg¬ 
etation which surrounds them. 

There are a number of species, of which the best known are 
the Red and Blue Macaw ( Ara macao ), the Red and Green 
Macaw (A. chloroptera ), the Blue and Yellow Macaw ( A . 
ararauna ), Illiger’s Macaw ( A . maracana ), the Brown- 
fronted Macaw (A. severa), the Military Macaw ( A . 
militaris ), and the Glaucous Macaw (A. glauca). 

A bird of rather strange appearance is the Greater Vasa 
Parrot ( Coracopsis vasa ) of Madagascar. 

The Gray Parrot ( Psittacus erythacus ) and the Timneh 
Parrot ( P . timneh ), from West Africa, furnish many of the 
best talkers of the family. 


53 


The most beautiful, perhaps, of all these birds come from 
the Australian region, where are found a great number of spe¬ 
cies. Among them are Pennant’s Parrakeet ( Platycercus 
pennanti ), the Rosehill Parrakeet (P. eximius), the Pale¬ 
headed Parrakeet (P. pallidiceps ), Bauer’s Parrakeet 
( P . zonarius ), Barnard’s Parrakeet (P. barnardi), Swain- 
son’s Lorikeet ( Tricoglossus novce-hollandice) , the Scaly- 
breasted Lorikeet (T. chlorolepidotus) , Forsten’s Lori¬ 
keet ( T. forsteni'), the Black-tailed Parrakeet ( Polytelis 
melanurus ), and the Blood-rumped Parrakeet ( Psephotus 
hcematonotus). The Zebra or Grass Parrakeet ( Melopsitta - 
cus undulatus ), also from Australia, is one of the most beau¬ 
tiful of these birds,—it is very small, and being of a green 
color, marked with undulating yellowish white lines, 
bordered with black, it is almost impossible to distinguish 
it from the grass in which it is generally to be found. 

The Ring-necked Parrakeet (. Palceornis torquatus ), the 
Blossom-headed Parrakeet (P. cyanocephala ), the Blue- 
streaked Lory ( Eos reticulata ), the Violet-necked Lory 
{Eos riciniata ), and the Alexandrine Parrakeet (. P . alex- 
andri ) are very handsome and graceful birds from India and 
the Asiatic Islands. 

The parrots of the New World, as a rule, are not so bril¬ 
liantly colored as those from the other hemisphere, being 
generally green, with various markings of red, yellow, white, 
and blue. 

Those kept as cage birds in this country commonly belong 
to the two large genera Chrysotis and Conurus; the former are 
known as Amazons and are birds of considerable size, with 
square tails of moderate length; the conures are smaller and 
have tails relatively longer and pointed. 

Those which are usually in the collection are the Yellow- 
fronted Amazon ( Chrysotis ochrocephala ), the Yellow¬ 
cheeked Amazon (C. autumnalis ), the Golden-naped 
Amazon (C auripalliata), the Blue-fronted Amazon (C. 
versicolor ), the White-fronted Amazon (C. albifrons ), the 
Yellow Conure ( Conurus solsiitialis) , the Brown-throated 
Conure (C. ceruginosus) y the White-eared Conure (C. leu- 
cotis), the Yellow-headed Conure (C. jendaya), the Cac¬ 
tus Conure (C. cactoruni ), and Petz’s Conure (C. petzi). 
North America possesses one species, the Carolina Conure 
(C. carolinensis ), which formerly ranged up to North Carolina 
and Kentucky, but which is now rarely found, even in the 
Gulf States. 


54 


Two rare specimens are the Short-tailed Parrot 
(Pionus brachyurus ), from Brazil, and the Venezuela 
Parrakeet ( Bolborhynchus lineolatus). 

A number of small parrakeets are common in South 
America, as the Cayenne Parrakeet (. Brotogerys tui- 
para :), the Yellow-throated Parrakeet ( B . tom), 
the Orange-winged Parrakeet ( B . xanthopterus ), 
the Yellow-headed Parrakeet ( B . tui), and the 
Passerine Parrakeet (Psittacula passerina ), the latter 
much resembling the love birds of Afriea. 

The cockatoos are confined to the Australian region. 
Being for the most part large birds of graceful flight, their 
appearance in large flocks is described as being singularly 
beautiful. The following will be found in this building:— 
The Slender-billed Cockatoo (Ptcmetis temdrostris), 
Ducorps’ Cockatoo ( Cacatua ducorpsi), the Lesser 
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (C sulphured ), the Sul¬ 
phur-crested Cockatoo (C. galerita), the Roseate 
Cockatoo (C rosezcapilla), Leadbeater’s Cockatoo 
(C. leadbeateri ), the Red-vented Cockatoo (C. phil- 
lipinarum ), the Great White-crested Cockatoo (C. 
cristata ), and the Rose-crested Cockatoo (C. mohic - 
censis). These birds talk with ease and live to a great age,— 
a specimen which recently died in the Garden was known 
to be at least ninety years old. 

The Crested Grass Parrakeet ( Calopsitta tiovce- 
hollandice) is a very beautiful bird from Australia, living in 
hollow trees. Unlike most of its order, it breeds with some 
facility in confinement, when afforded proper accommo¬ 
dations. 


The order Columbce , comprising the pigeons and doves, 
is a very extensive group, containing over four hundred 
species, more than one-third of which are natives of the 
Malayan Archipelago, the remainder being distributed over 
the world. A number of species are indigenous to North 
America, many of which have been exhibited at the Garden ; 
of these, the following are usually on hand :— 

The White-crowned Pigeon (Columba leucocephald ), 
southern United States and West Indies. 

The Cuban Pigeon (C. inornatd ), West Indies. 


55 

The Common Wild Pigeon (Edopistes migratorius ), 
North America. 

The Blue-headed Pigeon ( Starncenas cyanocephala ,) 
southern United States and West Indies. 

The Carolina Dove (Zencedura carolincnsis ,) North Amer¬ 
ica. 

The Zenaida Dove ( Zenaida amabilis ), West Indies. 

The Key West Dove ( Geotrygon martinica ), southern 
United States and West Indies. 

The White-winged Dove (. Melopeleia leucoptera ), south¬ 
western United States. 

These birds are all more or less common in the regions where 
they are found. The common wild pigeon was migratory in 
habit, and formerly moved in enormous flocks of many mill¬ 
ions. They used to be seen in some parts of the West, during 
their annual migration, covering acres of trees at night, when 
roosting, although it is now a question if they are not wholly 
extinct. 

Many of the pigeons from the Malayan Islands, which 
is the great home of the order, are of striking beauty. Among 
them are the Blood-Breasted Pigeon (Phlogcenas cruentata ) 
of the Philippine Islands, the Bronze-winged Pigeon (Phaps 
chalcoptera ) of Australia, the Green-winged Pigeon ( Chal - 
cophaps indie a), the Australian Pigeon (Ocyphaps lo- 
photes ), the Red-naped Fruit Pigeon ( Carpophaga paulina ) 
of Celebes, the Speckled Dove ( Turtur tigrina) of Burmah, 
the Eastern Turtle Dove (71 orienta/is) from eastern 
Asia and the Goura or Crowned Pigeon (Goura coronata ) 
of New Guinea. Another rare species, now to be seen here, 
is Sclater’s Crowned Pigeon ( G . sclateri). 

The crowned pigeon is as large as a guinea-fowl, and has 
the top of its head surmounted by a beautiful crest of 
radiating feathers. The common species readily bears the 
winters of France and England, and has frequently bred 
there. 

The Barbary Turtle Dove (Turtur risorius ), the Half- 
collared Dove (71 semi-torquatus ) of Africa, the Barred 
Dove (Geopelia striata), and the Ground Dove ( Chamcepe - 
leia passerina ) of the southern United States and the West 
Indies belong also to this group. 

The most aberrant member is the Tooth-billed Pigeon 
(Didunculus strigirostris ), which derives its name from a 
number of serrations, like teeth, at the tip of the mandible, 
or lower bill. 


5 6 


The species is of great rarity and comes from the Samoan 
Islands. A specimen formerly in the Garden was presented 
by the Smithsonian Institution. 

A small group of birds known as Pterocletes is interme¬ 
diate between the pigeons and the fowls, or gallinaceous 
birds. They are commonly called “sand-grouse” or 
“pigeon grouse.” These birds are found only in south¬ 
ern Europe and the warmer portions of Africa and Asia. 
Their habits are in general similar to those of grouse and 
pheasants, and in India they are much sought by sports¬ 
men. 

The Black-bellied Sand Grouse ( Pterocles arenarius ), 
ranging from Spain to India, is typical of the group. 

The order Gallinoe includes the guinea, turkey, curassow, 
guan, pheasant, and partridge, and contains a large propor¬ 
tion of those birds which are known as “game birds,” alike 
esteemed by the sportsman and the gourmand. They are 
mainly terrestrial birds. Some of them roost in trees, but 
during the day time live on the ground. 

The curassows and guans belong exclusively to America, 
ranging from Mexico across the Isthmus of Panama down to 
the southern part of Brazil. They are large birds, living on 
fruits and seeds, and are said to be very well adapted for the 
table. They do not, however, breed with any facility in this 
latitude. Among them are— 

The Crested Curassow ( Crax alector), Guiana. 

Daubenton’s Curassow (C. daubentom ), Central America. 

The Globose Curassow {C. g/obicera), Central America. 

Yarrell’s Curassow (C. carunculata ), Brazil. 

Sclater’s Curassow ( C. sclateri ), South America. 

The Razor-billed Curassow ( Mitua tuberosa ), Brazil. 

The Galeated Curassow ( Pauxigaleata ), South America. 

Greey’s Guan {Penelope greeyi). New Granada. 

The White-fronted Guan {P. jacucaca), Brazil. 

The Red-breasted Guan {P. pileata ), Brazil. 

The Red-vented Guan {P. cristata ), Central America. 

White-eyebrowed Guan (P. superciliaris ). 

The Motmot Guan {Ortalis motmot'), Guiana. 

The Mexican Guan (o. vetuld), Texas to Central America. 


57 


The Jungle-fowl ( Gallus bankiva ), native to India, and 
without doubt the ancestor of the domestic fowl; the 
Guinea-fowl ( Numida meleagris ), originally from Africa, 
but now domesticated all over the world; the Vulturine 
Guinea-fowl (TV. vu/turina), a rare and beautiful species from 
eastern Africa ; the Common Pea Fowl (. Pavo cristata ), native 
to India, but, like the guinea, naturalized everywhere; and 
the Javan Pea Fowl (P. muticus), from Java and the Malay 
Peninsula, distinguished from the foregoing by the peculiar 
shape of the plumes on the head, and by the rich green color 
on the breast—all belong to the Phasianidce. 

Sir Emerson Tennent states that the common pea fowl 
abounds to such an extent in the Island of Ceylon that its 
harsh cries at early morning are a great source of annoyance 
to the inhabitants. He also adds that the bird, as known in 
its domesticated state in other countries, gives but a very in¬ 
adequate idea of its size and magnificence when seen in its 
native forests. 

The Grouse are an allied group, generally distributed 
throughout the northern hemisphere. A number of them are 
natives of America, where they are commonly, though erro¬ 
neously, called Pheasant and Partridge. They may always be 
distinguished from pheasants, a number of which have within 
a few years been domesticated in the United States, by the 
head, which in the grouse is always densely feathered, 
while in the pheasants there is usually more or less bare skin, 
often of a bright color. The tarsus, or lower leg, in the 
grouse is feathered down to the toes, this part in pheasants 
and quail being always more or less naked. 

The Ruffed Grouse (. Bonasa umbellus ) and the Pinnated 
Grouse or Prairie Chicken (Cupidonia cupido ) are two of 
the best known species. 

The Common Partridge of Europe is Perdix perdix ; 
other species often exhibited are the Barbary Partridge 
(Caccabis petrosa ), the Greek Partridge (C. saxatilis ), and 
the Chukar Partridge (C. chukar) of India; all of them 
are birds of some size, of pleasing plumage, and are clearly 
marked by their bright red legs. The Common Quail (Co - 
turnix coturnix') of Europe and Asia is a bird of migratory 
habits and crosses the Mediterranean into Africa each au- 


58 


tumn in countless numbers. Other species are found in 
Australia and New Zealand. 

There are some forty species of American quail, differing 
slightly in structure of bill from the foregoing. 

The well-known Common Partridge, Quail, or “ Bob- 
white,” as it is frequently called ( Ortyx virginianus) , is the 
most widely distributed species in North America, and has 
several marked varieties in the south-west and in Cuba. The 
female is lighter in color than the male, and has the buff of 
the neck replaced by white. 

On the Pacific coast several genera have the head beauti¬ 
fully ornamented with plumes of feathers rising in various 
shapes. Examples of this form are the Plumed or Mountain 
Partridge ( Oreoriyx pictus), the Valley Quail ( Lophor- 
tyx calif'ornicus) , and Gambel’s Quail (Z. gambeli ), from 
Arizona and New Mexico. 

Others are found in South America, as the White-eared 
Quail ( Eupsychortyx leucotis). 

The birds of the order Crypturi , containing the tinamous 
of South America, are of moderate size and offer a superficial 
likeness to some of the Gallince; their relationship, however, 
appears to be more nearly with struthious birds. There are 
some sixty known species, of which the Cinereous Tinamou 
( Tinamus cinereus ), the Least Tinamou ( Crypturus pileatus ), 
which emits a peculiarly shrill and deafening cry, quite out 
of proportion to its size, and the Variegated Tinamou (C. 
variegatus ), are sometimes in the collection. Mr. Darwin, 
speaking of the tinamou in “ The Zoology of the Voyage of 
the Beagle,” states that it approximates somewhat to the 
habits of the grouse, but that it rarely rises from the ground, 
and may be readily caught with a stick having a noose at the 
end. 

The order Steganopodes is composed of birds having all four 
toes fully connected by webs. They all have a more or less 
developed throat pouch; live upon fish, which they follow 
and catch in its native element, and are rarely found far from 
the sea-coast. Among the American representatives of the 
group which are usually to be found here, or in the 
creek behind the Deer Park, are the Common Gan- 
net ( Sula bassana) and the Booby Gannet {S. fiber), 
found along the Atlantic coast, the latter rarely ranging as 


59 


high as the Middle States, and the Common Cormorant 
( Graculus carbo ), which ranges along the Atlantic coast from 
Labrador southward. 

The strange-looking bird of this order, which is kept in 
the fountain basin in the Aviary, is the Darter or Water 
Turkey ( Plotus anhinga). They are natives of the most im¬ 
penetrable swamps of the Gulf States, and are so difficult of 
approach that their capture alive is an event of some rarity. 
They commonly perch on a branch closely overhanging the 
surface, and on the least alarm drop noiselessly into the 
water, and swim away unnoticed. Nuttall says of this bird :— 

“ Its long and dark serpentine neck and small head, vibrating back¬ 
ward and forward, present entirely the appearance of a snake, whether 
seen through the foliage of a tree, or emerging from the still and sluggish 
stream in which it often swims, with the body wholly immersed to the 
neck, and on being approached or startled, even that is instantly with¬ 
drawn, and sweeping beneath the flood in perfect silence, we at length 
see it again rise at a distance which defies approach.” 

There are three or four allied species in Asia, Africa, and 
Australia. 

The Pelicans are well-known representatives of this group; 
of them, the Garden has the following:— 

Brown Pelican {Pelec anus fuscus ), North America. 

White Pelican {P. trachyrhynchus') , North America. 

Crested Pelican (. P . crispus ), Mediterranean Sea. 

White Pelican ( P . onocrotalus ), Mediterranean Sea. 

The last is a bird of remarkable beauty, the males being 
tinted with an exquisite rosy shade over the body when fully 
mature. 

The American white pelican is peculiar in bearing near 
the middle of the upper side of the bill, an excrescence, which 
is shed at the close of the breeding season, about August, and 
grows out again in the following spring. The crested peli¬ 
can, when adult, is the largest of these birds. 

The Impennes , or wingless birds, are represented by the 
penguins, which inhabit the antarctic seas. In these birds 
the wings are so small as to be useless for flight, and serve the 
same purpose in swimming as the forelimbs of the seal. 
They dive and swim under water with marvelous rapidity in 
pursuit of the fish which is their chief food. But one speci- 


men of these interesting birds—the Black-footed Penguin 
(Spheniscus demersus) — has as yet been obtained by the Society. 

The orders Alectorides, containing cranes; Fulicarice, 
composed of the so-called “ shore birds,” snipe, plover, &c.; 
and Rallidce , the rails and gallinules, all contain more or less 
small species which require shelter. They live largely along 
water courses or on the seashore, from which they select the 
insects, worms, crustaceans, and seeds which serve them as 
food. Some of them are:— 

The Cariama Crane ( Cariama cristata), South America. 

The Common Trumpeter ( Psophia crepitans ), Guiana. 

The Green-winged Trumpeter (P. viridis), Brazil. 

The Cayenne Rail ( Aramides c aye sinensis), South America 
and West Indies. 

The Courlan ( Aramusgiganteus ), Florida and West Indies. 

The Carolina Rail ( Porzana Carolina ), North America. 

The Sickle-billed Curlew (. Numenius longirostris), North 
America. 

The Clapper Rail ( Rallus longirostris), eastern United 
States. 

The King Rail ( R . elegans), eastern United States. 

The Florida Gallinule ( Gallinula galeata), Gulf States. 

The Martinique Water Hen (. Porphyrio martinica), 
southern United States and West Indies. 

The Black-backed Porphyrio (P . melanotus ), Australia. 

The Hyacinthine Porphyrio (P. hyacinthinus), Europe 
and Asia. 

The Common Coot ( Fulica americana), North America. 

The American Woodcock (. Philohela minor), eastern 
United States. 

No. 23.—THE SOUTHERN BIRD 
OF PREY CAGES. 

It is the intention of the Society to erect a series of 
cages along the main walk below the Aviary for the collec¬ 
tion of birds of prey. At present only four pairs of these 
enclosures have been completed, and the birds of this order 
are much scattered through the Garden. It is convenient, 
however, to enumerate them here. 


6i 


The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), America. 

The Black Vulture (C. atratus ), southern United States. 

The King Vulture ( Gypagus papa), South America. 

The Cinereous Vulture \Vultur cinereus ), southern Eu¬ 
rope and Africa. 

The Pondichery Vulture (V. calvus ), India. 

The Griffon Vulture ( Gyps fulvus ), southern Europe 
and Africa. 

The Lammergeyer or Bearded Vulture ( Gypoetos bar- 
batus), Mediterranean region. 

The Caracara Buzzard ( Polyborus cheriway ), southern 
United States. 

The Red-tailed Buzzard (. Buteo borealis ), North America. 

The Red-shouldered Buzzard (. B . lineatus), North 
America. 

Swainson’s Buzzard (B. swainsoni), western United States. 

The Rough-legged Buzzard ( Archibuteo lagopus sancti- 
johannis), North America. 

The Osprey or Fish Hawk (. Pandion haliaetus ), Whole 
world. 

The Sparrow Hawk ( Falco sparverius ), North America. 

The Prairie Falcon (.Fmexicanus ), western United 
States. 

The Kestrel ( Tinnunculus alaudarius ), Europe. 

The Merlin (' Hypotriorchis cesalon), Europe. 

The Pigeon Hawk ( Accipterfuscus ), North America. 

The Tiny Hawk ( A . tinus ), West Indies. 

Cooper’s Hawk {A. cooperi ), North America. 

The Brahminy Kite (. Haliastur intermedins ), India. 

The White Goshawk ( Astur novce-hollandice), Australia. 

The Greater Spotted Eagle ( Aquila maculata ), Europe 
and Asia. 

The Lesser Spotted Eagle (.A. pomarina ), southern 
Russia. 

Golden Eagle ( A . chryscetos ), North America. 

The Wedge-tailed Eagle ( A. audax ), Australia. 

The Bald Eagle (. Haliaetus leucocephalus), North America. 

The Cinerous Sea Eagle (AT. albicilla), northern Europe, 
Asia, and Greenland. 

A large number of American species belong to the 
Accipitres. 

The buzzards proper are a group of hawks, generally of 
large size and rather heavy flight. The eagles are closely 


62 


associated with this division. The golden eagle and the bald 
eagle are occasionally seen in all parts of the country, 
though they are now somewhat rare along the Atlantic coast, 
and for a long distance into the interior. They are the only 
eagles properly belonging to the North American fauna, 
although as the bald eagle does not receive its white head and 
tail until its third year, its different stages of plumage have 
given rise to several vernacular names by which it is known. 

Dr. Elliott Coues sums up the distribution and character of 
this species in his “ Key to North American Birds ” after the 
following descriptive manner:— 

“North America, common; piscivorous; a piratical parasite of the 
Osprey; otherwise notorious as the Emblem of the Republic.’' 

Certainly, on watching its filthy habits, its sneaking ways, 
and its thievish expression, one is not disposed to be proud 
of his “Bird of Freedom.” 

The falcons, harriers, kites, and goshawks are small hawks 
of rapid and vigorous flight and daring disposition. They 
are found all over the world. The falcons are readily distin¬ 
guished by the presence of a notch—called the tooth—in the 
upper mandible. 

The vultures are represented in North America by a family 
known as Cathartidce , of which the best known species are 
the turkey vulture, common to all North America, and the 
black vulture, which is mainly confined to the south Atlantic 
and Gulf States, where they perform the duties of useful 
scavengers in the streets of even the large cities. 

It may be mentioned here that the term “buzzard” is 
commonly, though improperly, applied to these birds; the 
true relation of the word has been given above. 

The caracara belongs to a small group of hawks approach¬ 
ing somewhat in habit to the vultures. They range from 
South and Central America into the southern parts of the 
United States. 

A strange bird, strictly belonging to the Accipitres , though 
bearing a resemblance in length of leg to the cranes and 
storks, is the Secretary Vulture (Serpentarius secretariats) 
of South Africa. Its name is derived from a tuft of feathers 
projecting backwards from each side of the head, and resem¬ 
bling the quill pen which clerks or secretaries frequently carry 
behind their ears. It is also known as “serpent-eater,” from 
its habit of waging destructive war on the serpents which 
abound in its native country. It is a difficult bird to keep in 


63 


captivity, its bones seeming to be very brittle—a slight blow 
or even a misstep being sometimes sufficient to break a leg. 

The Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus) is the largest of the 
vultures, rivaling and even exceeding in size the bearded 
vulture or Lammergeyer of the Alps. 

They do not build nests, but commonly live in pairs on the 
bare rock, high up among the lofty peaks of the Andes, from 
which they soar to a height almost beyond the range of 
human vision, plunging down only when their keen sight 
discovers the carcass of some dead animal on the plains be¬ 
low. They live mostly on carrion, but when pressed by 
hunger, it is said that several of them will sometimes band 
together, to attack a young calf or a disabled animal out of 
the herd, and with blows of their powerful beaks and claws 
destroy it. The sexes are very similar, but the female lacks 
the caruncles on the head and the wattles on the throat, pos¬ 
sessed by the male. 



The California Vulture (.Pseudogryphus californianus) 
reaches almost the size of the condor. This species was for¬ 
merly abundant on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, 
in southern California, but has become almost extinct within 
a few years. They may be regarded as a great rarity in liv¬ 
ing collections. 


THE CALIFORNIA VULTURE. 


64 


No. 27.—THE POLAR BEAR PEN. 

This species (Ursus maritimus), is found throughout the arc¬ 
tic regions of Europe, Asia, and America, rarely ranging 
below the fifty-fifth degree of latitude; how far to the north 
they find their way is unknown. Sir Edward Parry saw them 
at latitude eighty-two. 

They measure sometimes nine feet in length, and are dan¬ 
gerous visitors when pressed, as they often are, by hunger, to 
invade the camps of sailors, ice bound in the northern seas. 
They live on fish, seals, and blubber, and being perfectly at 
home in the water, pursue their prey and capture it in its 
native element. The following account is given by an arctic 
explorer of the cunning displayed by this animal in procur¬ 
ing food:— 

“ The Bear, on seeing his intended prey, gets quietly into the water and 
swims until to leeward of him, whence by short dives he silently makes 
his approach, and so arranges his distance that at the last dive he comes 
to the spot where the seal is lying. If the poor animal attempts to escape 
by rolling into the water, he falls into the bear’s clutches ; if, on the con¬ 
trary, he lies still, his destroyer makes a powerful spring, kills him on the 
ice, and devours him at leisure.” 

In captivity these animals live mostly on bread, with an 
occasional meal of fish. 

On the right of the main walk leading up to the Lake, is 
the Southern Buffalo Pen, which was recently established for 
buffalo of a strain entirely distinct from those which have 
been for many years in the Garden. The main herd is de¬ 
scribed at page 74. 

No. 11.—THE LAKE. 

The Lake is occupied by a number of aquatic birds, 
belonging to the order Anseres. The following are usually 
to be seen :— 

The Mute Swan (Cygnus o/or), Europe. 

The Black Swan (C. atratus ), Australia. 

The Whistling Swan(C. columbianus ), North America. 


65 

The Trumpeter Swan (C . buccinator), western North 
America. 

The Black-necked Swan (C. nigricollis ), South America. 

The Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata), Australia. 

The Egyptian Goose ( Chenalopex cegyptiaca), Africa. 

The Blue Goose ( Anser ccerulescens ), North America. 

The Snow Goose ( A. hyperboreus), North America. 

The White-fronted Goose ( A . albifrons gambeli), North 
America. 

The Gray Goose (. A . anser), northern Europe. 

The Chinese Goose ( A . cygnoides), China. 

The Bar-headed Goose ( A . indicus ), India. 

The Brant Goose ( Branta bernicla), Europe and North 
America. 

The Canada Goose ( B . canadensis), North America. 

The Bernicle Goose (. B . leucopsis ), Europe. 

The Maned Goose (B . jubata), Australia. 

The Common Sheldrake ( Tadorna tadorna ), Europe and 
Asia. 

The Ruddy Sheldrake (T 7 . casarca ), southern Europe, 
Asia, and Africa. 

The Mallard (Anas boschas), North America, Europe, and 
Asia. 

The Dusky or Black Duck (A. obscura), North America. 

The Pintail Duck (. Dafila acuta), Europe and North 
America. 

The American Widgeon (. Mareca americana), North 
America. 

The European Widgeon (M. penelope), Europe. 

The Canvas-backed Duck (. Fuligula vallisneria), North 
America. 

The Red-headed Duck (F. ferina americana), North 
America. 

The Little Black-headed Duck (F. affinis), North 
America. 

The Tufted Duck (F. cristata), Europe. 

The Eider Duck (, Sotnateria mollissima), North Atlantic. 


66 


Adjacent to the Lake, on the western side, is— 

No. 28.—THE STREAM FOR WATER 
FOWL, 

in which some of the ducks and geese enumerated above, 
which require special care and seclusion for their welfare, are 
kept. 

The Summer or Wood T>\JCYi{Aix sponsa) of North Amer¬ 
ica, the beautiful Mandarin Duck {A. galericulata ) of China, 
the Common Teal ( Querquedula crecca ), and the Garganey 
Teal ( Q . circia ), both of Europe, the Green-winged Teal 
(Q. carolinensis ) and Blue-winged Teal (Q. discors) of 
our own country will be seen here. 

The summer duck differs from all the other true ducks of 
this country in its habit of living in trees,—its nest being 
commonly made in a hollow limb at a considerable distance 
from the ground. A group known as Tree Ducks are found 
through the warmer parts of the earth. The White-faced 
Tree Duck ( Dendrocygna viduatd), the Red-billed Tree 
Duck (Z>. autumnalis ), the Black-billed Tree Duck {D. 
arborea ), and the Indian Tree Duck (Z>. arcuata) are mem¬ 
bers of this group. 


No. 9.—THE PHEASANT ENCLOSURE. 

The true pheasants are indigenous to Asia and its islands ; 
but the matchless beauty of their plumage, and the delicate 
quality of their flesh, have caused some of them to be largely 
introduced into Europe and the United States. The bird 
now known as the English Pheasant (.Phasianus colchicus ) 
originally came from western Asia, and is believed to have 
been introduced into England about the close of the tenth 
century. It has long been perfectly naturalized, and is one 
of the most beautiful of the family. The Ring-necked 
Pheasant {Phasianus torquatus) has also long been domesti¬ 
cated in England, and has bred freely with the common 
pheasant; most of the birds known as ring-necked pheasants 
are the result of such a cross, in which the first-named bird 
seems to preponderate, the hybrids differing little in appear¬ 
ance from the original stock. Many of the pheasants have 


67 

those feathers which lie immediately around the base of the 
tail—known as the upper tail coverts—immensely elongated, 
forming a large fan, like the train of the peacock, which they 
have the power to erect at will, thus exposing a surface of 
brilliant and beautiful coloring, which in many species is 
without parallel in the animal kingdom. These plumes are 
developed to this extent only in the males, and from the fact 
of their being displayed frequently in the presence of the 



THE WILD TURKEY. 

female during the breeding season, it is supposed that they 
play an important part in attracting her at this period. 

One of the most beautiful of these birds is Reeves’ Pheas¬ 
ant (P . reevest) y in the male of which the tail sometimes 
reaches a length of six feet; of this, as well as the Japanese 
Pheasant (P . versicolor ), the collection contains specimens. 
The Silver Pheasant (Euplocamus nycthemerus ), the 




68 


Golden Pheasant ( Thaumaleapictd), and Amherst’s Pheas¬ 
ant (T. amherstia, ) are natives of China, but have largely 
been acclimated elsewhere. 

The magnificent Argus Pheasant (. Argusianus argus ) rivals 
the pea fowl in the display of feathers made by the male 
during the breeding season, and although the colors of the 
elongated feathers of the tail and wings are not brilliant as 
in the peacock, the quiet elegance of the pattern and shades 
borne by them constitute them an object of rare beauty. 
This species is found in Siam, Sumatra, and other parts of 
the Malayan region, but they are extremely delicate, rarely 
live long in captivity, and are not often seen in collections. 

Specimens of the eastern Wild Turkey ( Meleagris gallo- 
pavo) are kept here. This splendid bird is now nearly 
extinct except in the wilder parts of the Alleghenies. 


No. 29.—THE LYNX CAGE. 

The Common American Lynx or Wild Cat (Lynx rufus ) 
is distributed generally over the United States, and varies in 
color to so great an extent that some naturalists have in¬ 
sisted upon three or four not very well-defined species within 
the range of its distribution. Though in appearance it is 
ferocious to the last degree, it is in reality a cowardly beast, 
and subsists altogether upon small animals and birds. 

In most localities it is known as the Catamount. 

In the north it is replaced by the Canada Lynx (Z. cana¬ 
densis ), of somewhat larger size and grayer color. This 
species may also be known by the long tufts or pencils of hair 
which stand erect from the tip of the ear, and by its larger 
feet. As this lynx is found far to the north among the snows 
of British America, nature—fitting all things for their neces¬ 
sities—has developed the enormous paw which is character¬ 
istic of the species, to answer the part of a snow-shoe in 
enabling the animal to range at will and capture its prey 
on the surface of the snow, without sinking enough to be im¬ 
peded in its progress. 

A lynx closely similar is found in Europe and Asia, a fine 
specimen of which from Thibet, at present occupies this cage. 

The European Wild Cat (Felis catus ) is near at hand 
opposite the Monkey House, but as it rarely comes out during 
the day time, it is not often seen. 


6 9 


These cats are among the most wild and shy of animals, 
and the publicity to which they are exposed in collections is 
probably the main reason why it seems impossible to keep 
them with success. 


No. 14.—THE DEER PARK. 

The Moose (. A Ices alces), called ‘‘elk” in Europe, often 
exceeds the largest horse in height; six and a half feet at the 
shoulder being no uncommon measurement. The antlers are 
widely palmated, or flattened, and spread sometimes six feet 
from tip to tip ; specimens of enormous size are now being 
brought from Alaska. 

The range of this magnificent animal is now very limited, 
but formerly included all suitable regions in northern Eu¬ 
rope, Asia, and America. In this country they are now con¬ 
fined to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, northern Ontario, 
Maine, Idaho, Wyoming, and Alaska. 

During the season of rutting the bull moose is a savage 
and dangerous animal, and it is well to keep beyond the reach 
of the terrible blows which he deals with his sharp forehoofs. 
The animal is, however, susceptible of a considerable degree 
of domestication, the writer having recently seen one which 
had been broken to harness and trotted on the track. The 
gait of the animal is a long, swinging trot, and is very rapid. 

Numerous attempts have been made in the Garden to keep 
specimens of the Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus ), 
but in all cases the unsuitable climate and the impossibility of 
providing the proper food have proved speedily fatal. The 
animal has an extremely northern range. There are two 
well-known species, the one referred to, reaching from Maine 
and New Brunswick westward to Lake Superior, and the Bar¬ 
ren Land Caribou (R . grcenlandicus ), far to the north in 
Greenland and Arctic America. A number of other species 
of doubtful standing have been described in recent years. 
They subsist for the most part on lichens, mosses, and small 
shoots and twigs of trees. 

This is the only member of the deer family in which the 
female as well as the male has antlers. These are very irreg¬ 
ular in development, and differ much in shape; the tip and 
also the brow antler are generally palmated to some extent. 

The caribou is nearly related to the reindeer of Europe. 



;o 


The Virginia Deer (. Mazama virginiana ) is the common 
deer of the United States, and is found throughout North 
America; the so-called “white-tailed” deer of the west 
being indistinguishable from eastern specimens. They are 
easily tamed, and breed with tolerable readiness. 

In Mexico they become much smaller, in accordance with 
a law general among North American herbivora, that the av¬ 
erage size of a species becomes lessened towards the south. 
Several specimens of these small deer have been in the col¬ 
lection, and have bred freely with those from the east. A 
beautiful example of these is Mearns’ Deer ( Mazama texana ), 
which ranges from southern Texas as far as Vera Cruz. 

The Mule Deer (J/. macrotis ) is found west of the Mis¬ 
souri river, where it is almost universally known as the 
“black tail,” though wrongly so, as the true Black-tailed 
Deer (M. columbianus) is known only through a limited 
region to the north-west of the main mountain ranges. The 
former, intermediate in size between the common deer and 
the elk, but differing from both in form of antlers, is com¬ 
monly found at present high up in the mountains, while the 
common species seem rather to affect lower pastures and 
heavily-timbered river bottoms. The range of either, however, 
depends much upon the available food supply and the season 
of the year. 

The mule deer, like most herbivora from the far west, does 
not thrive when brought to this region, and much care is re¬ 
quired to successfully raise the young. 

The Hog Deer ( Cervus porcinus ) of India, derives its 
name from a somewhat porcine expression of countenance 
which is at once recognized. Close by, in an adjoining en¬ 
closure, is the Japanese Deer (C. sika), a small and hardy 
species, which has but recently been introduced into the 
Garden. 

The Fallow Deer (C. dama) is the common deer of 
Europe. Its color is usually reddish-brown, spotted, like the 
axis, with white. It is liable to variation, however, some of 
those in the Garden being pure white. 

The Roe (C. capreolus) is also found throughout Europe 
and in Asia, and though of small size, is one of the most 
graceful and beautiful of its kind. This little deer does not 


7 1 


seem to endure captivity well, and the attempts which have 
been made by the Society to establish them here have not 
been successful. 

The llamas, which are kept in this park, belong to the 
Camelidce , and to a certain extent fill in South America the 
place which is held by the camels in Asia and Africa. They 
have long been domesticated, as Pizarro, on his conquest of 
Peru, found them in as general use as they are at the present 
time. 

There are several wild species—the others, so far as is 
known, being descendants of the wild stock. 

The Llama ( Lama glama ) is much used by the natives of 
Peru to transport burdens up the steep passes of the Andes, 
and is one of the domestic races. 

Among the wild ones are the Huanaco (Z. huanacos ), 
about the size of the llama, but of a reddish-brown color, 
and the Vicuna (Z. vicugna ), a smaller variety, covered with 
reddish-brown wool. These, like the Alpaca (Z. pacos ), are 
much hunted for the valuable wool which they yield. They 
are domesticated with ease, and the llama has bred several 
times in the Garden. 

In the creek back of the Deer Park are usually a number of 
birds, some of which are placed in different buildings during 
the winter. 

The Australian Crane, or Native Companion ( Grus aus- 
tralasiana ), Australia. 

The Whooping Crane ( G . americana ), North America. 

The Brown Crane (G. canadensis ), North America. 

The Sandhill Crane ( G . mexicanus ), southern United 
States. 

The Sarus Crane ( G . antigone ), India. 

The Cape Crowned Crane (. Balaerica regulorum ), South 
Africa. 

The Crowned Crane (2?. pavonina ), West Africa. 

The Demoiselle Crane (. Anthropoides virgo), Europe and 
North Africa. 

The Wood Ibis ( Tantalus loculator ), southern United 
States. 

The White Ibis ( Ibis alba) ) Gulf States. 


72 


The Scarlet Ibis (/. rubra), South America. 

The Common Bittern (. Botaurus minor), North America. 

The Tiger Bittern ( Tigrosoma brasiliense), Brazil. 

The Boat-Billed Heron ( Cancroma cochlearia ), South 
America. 

The Night Heron ( Nycticorax griseus ncevius), United 
States. 

The Great White Egret (. Ardea egretta), southern 
United States. 

The Great Blue Heron (. A . herodias), North America. 

The Little Blue Heron (. A . ccerulea), southern United 
States. 

The Least Bittern (A. exilis), United States. 

The Australian Sacred Ibis (Ibis strictipennis), which is 
closely similar to the African bird formerly venerated by the 
Egyptians. 

These all belong to two somewhat closely related orders, 
Alectorides and Herodiones. In them the legs are usually of 
great length, and are commonly bare of feathers for some 
distance above the tarsal joint; the neck is, in most species, 
of length proportioned to the legs. There are numerous 
forms distributed all over the world. 

The Adjutant (. Leptoptilus argala) of India is one of the 
extensive family of storks, which are found throughout the 
world, with the exception of North America ; it will be easily 
recognized by its long, thick bill. In its native country it 
wages successful war upon the many venomous reptiles which 
there find a home, and also performs a part similar to that 
which is effectively taken in our Southern States by the black 
vulture. This is well stated in Jerdon’s “ Birds of India ” :— 

“ In Calcutta and some other large towns, the Adjutant is a familiar 
bird, unscared by the near approach of man or dog, and protected, in some 
cases, by law. It is an efficient scavenger, attending the neighborhood 
of slaughter-houses, and especially the burning-grounds of the Hindoos, 
when the often half-burnt carcasses are thrown into the river. It also dili¬ 
gently looks over the heaps of refuse and offal thrown out into the streets 
to await the arrival of the scavenger’s cart, where it may be seen in com¬ 
pany with dogs, kites, and crows. It likes to vary its food, however, and 
may often be seen searching ditches, pools of water, and tanks for frogs 
and fish. In the Deccan it soars to an immense height in the air along 
with vultures, ready to descend on any carcass that may be discovered.” 



73 


A smaller species, otherwise much like the preceding, is the 
Javan Adjutant (Z. javanicus ); another, called Marabou 
(Z. crumeniferus ), inhabits Africa. 

The White Stork ( Ciconia alba ) is a well-known summer 
resident in central Europe, particularly in Holland and Ger- 
many, retiring into Asia and Africa at the approach of winter. 
It is almost a household bird, living even in the midst of large 
cities, and in parts of Germany is regarded with superstitious 
reverence. With it, in the Garden, is associated the Black 
• Stork (C. nigra ), from the same localities. 

A rare species from west Africa, the Saddle-billed Stork 
(Xenorhynchus senegalensis'), is also to be seen in the collection. 

The flamingoes, forming the order Odonioglossce , seem 
to be related on the one side to storks, and on the other to 
Anseres. There are some half dozen species, all resident in 
tropical regions; all are pink or red in color, though they 
soon fade in captivity, and all have the bill curiously bent 
downwards in the middle. The common American species 
is Phcenicopterus ruber , which inhabits Florida, the West In¬ 
dies, and northern South America. These birds do not live 
long in captivity, and one can never be sure of finding them 
in the collection. 

The Fulmar Petrel (. Fulmaris glacialis), the Parasitic 
Jaeger Gull ( Stercorariusparasiticus ), the Laughing Gull 
(.Larus atricilia), and the Great Black-backed Gull (Z. 
mannas') are members of the order Gavice , and are found 
along the coast of the Atlantic States; the first two have a 
very extensive range to the north. 

The large Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is generally 
to be seen during warm weather in the compartment at the 
lower end of this creek, either sunning himself on the bank or 
submerged in the water, nothing being visible but the tips of 
the ridges over the eye and the protuberance around the nostrils 
on the extreme end of the snout. This species is found in the 
rivers and bayous of the Gulf States, and is allied to the croc¬ 
odile and gavial of Egypt and southern Asia, and the cai¬ 
man and jacare of South America. One species of Croco¬ 
dile ( Crocodilus americanus) is also found in South America 
and Cuba, and quite rarely among the keys which border the 
southern coast of Florida. 


74 


No. 18.—THE OTTER POND. 

The American Otter (.Lutra canadensis ) has a general 
range throughout North America, though to a less extent 
and in fewer numbers than formerly, owing to the great de¬ 
mand for the beautiful fur obtained from them. Like their 
relative, the Brown Mink (Putorius vison ), they are largely 
aquatic in habit and live chiefly upon fish, which they catch 
with ease and devour in incalculable numbers. They are 
lively, sportive animals, and the visitor will find much amuse¬ 
ment in watching their gambols in the pond set apart for them. 

In a wild state they have a curious means of diversion, 
which is thus described by Godman :— 

“ Their favorite sport is sliding, and for this purpose in winter the high¬ 
est ridge of snow is selected, to the top of which the Otters scramble, 
where, lying on the belly with the fore-feet bent backwards, they give 
themselves an impulse with the hind legs and swiftly glide headforemost 
down the declivity, sometimes for the distance of twenty yards. This 
sport they continue apparently with the keenest enjoyment, until fatigue 
or hunger induces them to desist.” 

Otter are not easy to capture uninjured, and it is with 
difficulty that a sufficient number is obtained for the collec¬ 
tion. The European species (Lutra lutra), is closely similar 
to our own. 

No. 16.—THE BUFFALO PENS. 

The American Bison or Buffalo (Bison bison). The So¬ 
ciety possesses one of the finest herds of these animals now 
remaining. 

Of the geographical distribution of this species, past and 
present, Prof. J. A. Allen treats as follows in a “ History of 
the American Bison,” published by the Department of the 
Interior in 1877 : — 

“ The habitat of the Bison formerly extended from Great Slave Lake, 
on the north, in latitude about 62°, to the north-eastern provinces of 
Mexico, as far south as latitude 25 0 . Its range in British North America 
extended from the Rocky mountains on the west to the wooded highlands 
about six hundred miles west of Hudson’s Bay, or about to a line running 
south-eastward from the Great Slave Lake to the Lake of the Woods. Its 
range in the United States formerly embraced a considerable area west of 


75 


the Rocky mountains—its recent remains having been found in Oregon as 
far west as the Blue mountains, and further south it occupied the Great 
Slave Lake basin, extending westward even to the Sierra Nevada mount¬ 
ains, while less than fifty years since it existed over the headwaters of the 
Green and Grand rivers, and other sources of the Colorado. East of the 
Rocky mountains its range extended southward far beyond the Rio Grande, 
and eastward through the region drained by the Ohio and its tributaries. 
Its northern limit, east of the Mississippi, was the great lakes, along which 
it extended to near the eastern end of Lake Erie. It appears not to have 
occurred south of the Tennessee river, and only to a limited extent east 
of the Alleghenies, chiefly in the upper districts of North and South 
Carolina. 

“ Its present range embraces two distinct and comparatively small areas. 
The southern is chiefly limited to western Kansas, a part of the Indian 
Territory, and north-western Texas—in all together embracing a region 
about equal in size to the present State of Kansas. The northern district 
extends from the sources of the principal southern tributaries of the Yel¬ 
lowstone northward into the British possessions, embracing an area not 
much greater than the present territory of Montana. Over these regions, 
however, it is rapidly disappearing, and at its present rate of decrease will 
certainly become wholly extinct within the next quarter of a century.” 



THE BISON. 

Over nearly the whole of this country the bison formerly 
ranged in vast herds, and the destructive side of man’s nature 
cannot be better realized than in contemplating the details 
of its extinction. It has been estimated by careful and 






76 

competent authorities, that from the year 1870 to 1875 
they were killed at the rate of two and one-half million a 
year. 

The due result of this prodigious and unchecked slaughter 
has already been reached, as it is now possible to say that the 
bison no longer exists within the United States outside of 
preserves, such as the Yellowstone National Park and pri¬ 
vate enclosures. A small herd is said to range far up in 
British America in the region of the Peace river. 

No. 17.—THE FOX AND WOLF PENS. 

The Red Fox ( Cams vulpes pennsylvaniens) ranges in large 
numbers from the Carolinas northward into Canada, and 
from the Atlantic coast to the west. It is subject to much 
variation—the Cross Fox, a beautiful animal marked with 
two black stripes crossing each other on the shoulders, and the 
Silver Fox, found sparingly in the northwestern States— 
both being well-marked varieties. The latter is known by the 
beautiful and expensive furs which it supplies. 

The Gray Fox (C. cinereo-argentaius ) has a complete range 
throughout the United States, increasing in numbers to¬ 
wards the south, where it gradually replaces the red fox, 
which it much resembles in mode of life. This species alone, 
among the dog tribe, has the habit of climbing trees when 
closely pursued. 

With the single exception of the little Coast Fox ( C . 
littoralis ), from lower California and Central America, the 
Kit or Swift Fox (C. velox ) is the smallest of American 
foxes, and is confined to the plains of the west. 

The Arctic Fox (C. lagopus ) is common to the polar 
regions of the north, in both hemispheres. Like many species 
which inhabit countries where the ground is covered with snow 
for a large part of the year, the fur of the arctic fox changes 
from a lead-blue color to white at the approach of winter. 
This provision of nature causes it to be less conspicuous 
against the snow and ice which surround it, and greatly aids 
it in pursuing its prey. 

The Great Gray or Timber Wolf, called Lobo by the 
Mexicans ( Canis lupus mexicanus'), is the largest of American 


77 


wolves, and formerly ranged over the whole Upited States 
and Canada. The settlement of the country has, however, 
driven them, with other noxious beasts, to the more secluded 
forests and plains, where they are beyond the reach of man. 
The common color of the species is grayish-white, but it varies 
all the way from pure white to deep black. 

The Common Wolf (C. lupus ) of Europe resembles the 
gray wolf. 

The Prairie Wolf or Cayote (C. latrans') is well known 
to all western travelers. Beyond the Missouri river they 
range in packs of from five or six to twenty, from Mexico 
well up into British America. They are intermediate in size 
between the fox and gray wolf, and live mostly on the carcasses 
which are found upon the plains. 

Melanistic specimens of this animal, and also of the timber 
wolf, several of which are almost entirely black, are in the 
collection. 

The Jackal plays in Africa the part taken in America by 
the cayote. The North African Jackal ( Canis anthus), the 
Black-backed (C. mesomelas ), and the Indian Jackal (C. 
aureus ), are frequently exhibited. 

South America possesses several species of small wolves, very 
fox-like in some of their characters. By some naturalists they 
have been constituted a group intermediate between the two. 
Azara’s Fox (C. azarce ) and the Crab-eating Fox (C. can- 
crivorus') belong to this group. 

It is an open question whether the Dingo, or Wild Dog 
(C. dingo), of Australia is an aboriginally wild stock, or is 
descended from introduced progenitors which ran wild. In 
any case their fossil remains are found in Pleistocene strata. 
They are cowardly brutes, susceptible of little domestication, 
and cause by their depredations much loss to the sheep- 
raisers of Australia. 

A curious little dog, whose external appearance is indicated 
by its name, is the Raccoon-like Dog (Canisprocyonoides), 
of north-eastern Asia. 

The dogs, wolves, and foxes, with the jackals, constitute a 
family of Carnivora known as the Canida . 


78 


No. 19.—THE CATTLE PENS. 

Opposite the wolves is an iron enclosure divided into pens 
in which are generally kept various oxen, sheep, and goats; 
although at times the necessities of the Garden require that 
other animals should be placed here as well. 

This group of even-toed ungulates, which, with the ante¬ 
lopes, is known as the Bovidce, , is well marked by the char¬ 
acter of their horns, which consist of an outside sheath, 
•composed of the same tissue which forms hair and nails ; this 
sheath is attached to a bony core projecting from the frontal 
bone, and is never shed, like the antlers of deer, but if 
knocked off by accident it does not grow again. Sheep 
and goats are so closely related that it is not easy to charac¬ 
terize the difference. They usually live in mountainous re¬ 
gions, while oxen and antelope prefer plains, or at least 
moderate elevations. 

The Indian Buffalo (. Bubelus buffelus ) has been domesti¬ 
cated for ages in its native country, but is also found there 
in a wild state. The wild ones, called Arna, are fond of the 
impenetrable, swampy jungles, common in southern Asia. 
The Bhainsa, or tame race, are largely used as working oxen, 
not only in their own country, but in southern Europe—the 
buffalo found on the Campagna, near Rome, being of this 
breed, as also are the Carabao , used as beasts of burden in 
the Philippine Islands. 

The Anoa or Celebes Buffalo (. Bos depressicornis ), is a 
dwarfed representative of the Indian species, and rarely 
measures much over three feet in height at the shoulder. 
The male now in the Garden is kept in one of these pens 
through the summer; in winter being placed in the Antelope 
House. 

The Zebu (. Bos indicus ). A number of breeds of these 
cattle exist throughout China, India, and north Africa, vary¬ 
ing in size from that of a calf to the full adult of our ordinary 
domestic cattle. They differ much in appearance, there be¬ 
ing breeds without horns, and some almost without the char¬ 
acteristic hump on the shoulders, while in others the horns 
are of great size, and some in which the hump weighs from 
forty to fifty pounds. 


79 


They are much used as beasts of burden, and are also sad¬ 
dled and ridden. They can be acclimated in this country 
with a little care and breed readily, but have not been found 
to be of much economic value in comparison with the estab¬ 
lished breeds of our own cattle. The sacred cattle of the 
Hindoos are of this stock. 

The Yak (.Poephagus grunniens ), in a wild state is native to 



THE MOUFLON. 

the high mountain ranges and plateaus of Thibet and Tartary. 
There are several domestic breeds used all over central Asia for 
purposes of draught and burden. The long hair is much used 
in the manufacture of various fabrics, and the tails are much 
prized by the Tartars and Chinese, constituting among the 
former an insignia of rank when attached to the head of a 





8o 


lance; by the Chinese they are dyed of various colors and 
used as fly-flappers. 

The wild yak is a somewhat sullen and ill-tempered brute, 
and can use its long horns sideways with great effect. 

The Domestic Sheep ( Ovis aries ), like the goat in its 
domesticated forms, is an inhabitant of the whole world. 

The Rocky Mountain Sheep ( Ovis canadensis ) was a for¬ 
mer frequenter of the whole chain of the Rocky mountain sys¬ 
tem, and those of the Pacific coast from Alaska to the Penin¬ 
sula of lower California and western Texas. He was even 
found in outlying spurs and ranges in Wyoming and Mon¬ 
tana, and in the Bad Lands along the Little Missouri river 
in Dakota, but through all this vast region he has become 
scarce, except, perhaps, in Alaska, where it is represented by 
a distinct species. The few survivors have become wild and 
shy, ranging high up in rough mountains, where they are 
difficult of approach. They have never been domesticated 
with success, and few of them have been shown in captivity. 

Another fine species is the Punjab Wild Sheep ( Ovis 
vignei), from the Himalayas of India. 

The Aoudad ( Ovis tragelaphus') comes from the mountains 
of north Africa, and resembles the mountain sheep, but has a 
thick beard hanging from the throat to below the knees. 
Another sheep frequently shown in collections is the Mouflon 
( 0 . musimon) from Corsica and Sardinia. 

The wild goats inhabit the roughest mountain ranges of 
southern Europe and Asia, from Spain to India; many spe¬ 
cies have long and powerful horns, much valued as trophies, 
and the qualities of nerve, hardihood, and marksmanship nec¬ 
essary to hunt them with success have for centuries rendered 
them favorite objects of the chase. The Swiss Ibex ( Capra 
ibex ) has long been extinct except in the preserve established 
in the Piedmontese Alps by the late King Victor Emanuel of 
Italy; the ibex procured for exhibition in these days gener¬ 
ally belong to the Spanish species (C. pyreniaca ). 

Another species, which was formerly common throughout 
the Grecian Archipelago, now seems to be restricted to Crete 
and other of the smaller Cyclades, as well as south-western 
Asia. This goat ( C . cegagrus ) was frequently referred to by 


8i 


Homer, and is probably the ancestor of the domestic animal, 
and it is by no means certain that the specimens now found 
in the islands referred to are not the progeny of the common 
form, run wild, as seems to be the case with the goats from 
the island of Ioura, to which the name of Capra dorcas has 
been given. 


Several examples of the Chamois (Rupicapra tragus ) have 
been shown in the Gardens. This goat-antelope, as it may 



THE MOUNTAIN GOAT. 

be termed, inhabits the elevated parts of the Pyrenees and of 
the Alps. They are carefully protected on the vast hunting 
preserves in Switzerland and the Tyrol, on which large num¬ 
bers are killed each year during the proper season. 

The so-called White, or Mountain Goat (Oreanwos 
montanus ), strictly speaking, is not a goat at all, but is more 




82 


or less nearly related to the chamois, which it resembles in 
many of its habits and ways. It is a native of rugged and 
elevated mountains from central Idaho to British Columbia 
and Alaska. They are exceedingly rare in collections. 

The Prong-horned Antelope {Antilocapra americana ) is 
remarkable on account of the formation of its horns in a 



THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE. 

manner peculiar to itself alone. The horns of this species 
resemble in appearance those of the hollow-horned rumi¬ 
nants, in which the external covering of horny material grows 
around a solid, bony core. In this antelope, however, the 
outside horny part is shed and replaced, it is thought by some 
naturalists, annually, as in the deer; but with the important 
difference, that in the deer the antler is formed directly by a 








83 


deposit from the blood, while in the antelope in question it 
is produced by growth and hardening of the epidermis or 
outer layer of the skin. The species is now confined to the 
plains of the temperate regions of the west, where they are 
becoming scarce. They are easily tamed, but are very deli¬ 
cate, and will not live for any length of time under restraint 
of any character. 

The Red Deer or Stag ( Cervus elaphus ) of Europe is kept 
in one of these enclosures. This animal is closely similar to 
the wapiti, but is of smaller size and less imposing aspect. 

Other deer resembling this species are found in northern 
and central Asia. 


No. 32.—THE CAMEL PEN. 

The Bactrian, or Double-humped Camel (Camelus 
bactriatius ), and the Common Camel or Dromedary (C. 
dromedarius ) are both originally natives of Asia. The Bac¬ 
trian camel comes from the high, cold plains of Tartary, where 
a few wild ones still remain, and is a more compact and 
powerful beast than the dromedary, which comes from the 
warmer climate of Arabia, and is lighter and more fleet of 
foot. They are much used in the sandy deserts of Arabia 
and northern Africa—nature having specially fitted their 
feet, like those of the ostrich, to the loose soil on which they 
walk, and also having provided them with a means of trav¬ 
eling for several days without requiring a fresh supply of water, 
part of the walls of the stomach supporting a double tissue, 
filled with cells, which absorb from the stomach, after drinking, 
a quantity of water sufficient to remain for some days as a reser¬ 
voir, from which the necessities of the animal may be supplied. 
A number of camels were imported into Texas by the United 
States Government in 1857, with the idea of making them 
available in military operations in the West; but owing to the 
stony nature of much of the soil, for which their feet are not 
adapted, the experiment was not altogether successful. A few 
years ago some of their descendants were said to exist in 
a wild state on the dry plains of Arizona, south of the Gila 
river. 

Fossil remains of members of the Camelida have been 
found in the United States, thus proving that they were once 
indigenous to this country. 


8 4 


No. 21.—THE REPTILE HOUSE. 

This building was occupied by the collection of birds until 
the erection of the present Aviary, when the reptiles were 
moved into it. It proved, however, altogether inadequate to 
that purpose, and for some years the Society was obliged to 
neglect this important class of animals. In the summer of 
1888 alterations and enlargement of the building were under¬ 
taken, the result being the present commodious and well- 
arranged structure. 

The class Reptilia is composed of animals provided with 
lungs, a very simple digestive apparatus, and cold blood, 
a term which merely means that, unlike mammals and birds, 
so little heat is produced by the reptile itself that the temper¬ 
ature of its body depends chiefly upon that of the air or 
water which surrounds it. Many of them live in the water, 
but are compelled to rise to the surface for the purpose of 
respiration. With the exception of a few of the serpents and 
lizards, they are oviparous, and deposit their eggs on land. 
Reptiles proper are turtles, serpents, lizards, and saurians. 

The members of the class Batrachia agree in many respects 
with the above. Their spawn, or eggs, is, however, generally 
hatched under water, and they are covered with a smooth 
skin in place of the scales with which reptiles are provided. 
The young—of which the tadpole of the frog is a familiar 
example—live entirely in the water, and breathe with gills. 
In some genera, as Siren and Necturus , these gills are 
retained through life, and project from the sides of the neck, 
where they may readily be observed, the blood which fills 
them giving them a rich crimson color. In others, as the 
frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders, a complete metamor¬ 
phosis takes place, the gills of the immature animal disappear¬ 
ing altogether in the adult. In the genus Cryptobranchus the 
gills become reduced to a small orifice in the side of the neck, 
and the lungs are well developed. 

Of the amphibians, the Siren ( Siren lacertina ), the Am- 
phiuma ( Amphiuma means), and the Proteus (. Necturus 
maculatus) are usually in the collection. The two former 
are found in the soft mud of streams and ditches from Geor¬ 
gia southward. The specimens in the Garden rarely come 


85 


out of the mud, except to get the worms on which they 
principally live. The menobranchus or proteus is from the 
fresh-water streams and lakes of the Middle States, and feeds 
upon worms, grubs, and larvae. 

The Hell Bender or Mud Devil ( Cryptobranchus a/leghe- 
niensis ) is found in the river mud of all tributaries of the 
Mississippi, and occasionally in other localities in the Gulf 
States. 

The salamanders and tritons, or newts, are found plenti¬ 
fully all over the United States. Many of them live entirely 
in the water, except at the breeding season. The Red- 
backed Salamander ( Plethodon cinereus erythronotus), the 
Two-lined Salamander ( Spelerpes bilineatus ), the Red 
Salamander (S. ruber), the Black Newt (. Desmognathus 
nigra), and the Spotted Newt ( Diemyctylus viridescens) are 
among the most common species. 

A very beautiful species, with bright yellow spots, is the 
Spotted Salamander of Europe ( S. maculosa). There are a 
number of other European species belonging to the genus 
Molge. 

A number of curious amphibians ( Amblystoma iigrina), 
from the elevated plateaus in the western United States, will 
be found in the vivarium. Their larval form, has large gill 
tufts and a crest along the spine and tail. These shrink up 
and disappear when the animal becomes mature. 

The largest member of this group is the Giant Salamander 
{Cryptobranchus maximus) of Japan, which reaches some¬ 
times a length of four feet. They are sluggish animals, feeding 
but seldom in captivity, and appear to be intolerant of light, 
becoming uneasy whenever the shade protecting them from 
the direct rays of the sun is removed. 

The toads and frogs have a range co-extensive with the 
salamanders; the Common Toad {Bufo lentiginosus) being 
found all over North America, with a number of well-marked 
varieties. 

The best known of the frogs are the Bull Frog (Rana 
catesbiana), the Swamp Frog ( R. palustris), the Brook Frog 
(. R . clamitans ), and the Spring Frog (R. virescens). 

The North American fauna possesses a large and varied 
number of serpents ( Ophidia), of which order over sixteen 
hundred species are found throughout the world. The only 










87 


venomous snakes belonging to North America are the different 
varieties of the rattlesnake, the moccasin, the copperhead, 
and the coral snake. With the exception of the latter, 
these belong to the family Crotalidce , distinguished by the 
presence of a deep pit on the side of the muzzle between the 
eye and the mouth, and by the possession of a pair of poison 
fangs in the upper jaw, which are erectable at will. 

The rattlesnakes are common to the whole United States, 
even extending into Canada, and becoming more plenti¬ 
ful towards the south, where they grow to a large size, some¬ 
times reaching as much as seven feet in length. They are 
characterized by a horny outgrowth of the epidermis at the 
end of the tail, known as the rattle, with which they make a 
whirring noise when excited, with the effect, it is presumed, 
of giving notice to their enemies that they are not to be 
trifled with without danger. The number of buttons, as the 
sections into which the rattle is divided are termed, has been 
commonly supposed to be a means of determining the age of 
the snake, but as they are frequently lost by accident, and are 
as frequently produced three or four at a time, it is evident 
that this belief, with a number of others of equally loose 
foundation which invest the popular mind regarding the ser¬ 
pent, may as well be abandoned. 

It may be well here to dispose of two more of these 
delusions which meet with very general acceptance. 

First .—The slender, forked organ, frequently and rapidly 
protruded from the mouth of snakes is not its “stinger,” 
but is no more nor less than the tongue. No serpent has a 
sting or weapon of any kind other than its teeth. 

Second .—There is no rational basis for the belief in a 
power of fascination consciously exerted by a snake upon its 
prey. The occurrences brought forward in support of the 
notion can be accounted for on purely psychological 
grounds. 

There are some fifteen species of rattlesnake found within 
the limits of the United States, eleven of which are known 
only in the extreme south-west, the fauna of which is closely 
related to that of Mexico and Central America. 

The Banded Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus') and the 
Diamond Rattlesnake (C. adamanteus ) are the most well- 
marked species of this genus; the former being most com¬ 
mon in the Eastern and Middle States, while the latter ranges 
from North Carolina to Texas. 


88 


The Western Diamond Rattlesnake (C. atrox ) and 
the Horned Rattlesnake ( C. cerastes ) come from Texas, 
Arizona, and New Mexico. The South American species (C. 
durissus) reaches a large size. 

Say’s Rattlesnake (C. confluentus') is the most wide¬ 
spread species of the plains. 

The Ground Rattlesnake ( Sistrurus miliarius') and the 
Prairie Rattlesnake (S. catenatus') are small species from 
the south and west. 

The Water Moccasin ( Ancistrodon piscivorus) is confined 
to the wet and swampy lands throughout the south. 

The Copperhead (. A . contortrix') is found almost all over 
the United States east of the Rocky mountains. 

Many highly venomous crotaline snakes are found in trop¬ 
ical America, a number of which belong to the genus Lache- 
sis , such as the dreaded Fer de Lance (Z. lanceolatus') of St. 
Lucia and Martinique and Z. atrox from South America. 

The vipers belong altogether to the old world; they much 
resemble the crotaline snakes, but externally lack the pit on 
the side of the muzzle, referred to above. Like rattlesnakes, 
they have the pre-maxillary bone, bearing the poison fang, 
hinged, as it were, so that the fang can be erected for use, at 
other times lying back against the roof of the mouth, like the 
blade of a closed knife. A typical member of this group 
is the Puff Adder ( Vipera arietans ) of South Africa. The 
Common Viper (V. herns') and the Long-nosed Viper (K 
ammodytes) are natives of Europe. 

The cobras and the elapine snakes, known as proteroglyphs , 
while highly venomous, have fixed fangs, and are nearly re¬ 
lated to the harmless colubrine snakes. Some of these last, 
having an opisthoglyph dentition, that is, having a long grooved 
tooth in the back of the upper jaw, are poisonous to small 
animals, though not dangerous to man. 

The Coral Snake (. Elaps fulvius) of the Southern States 
is of a very mild disposition, and has hardly ever been 
known to bite, although in proportion to its size it is 
probably very highly venomous. It is one of the most 
beautiful of the order, being ringed with red, black, and 


8 9 


yellow. The section to which it belongs has the centre of 
its distribution in the tropical zone, throughout the whole 
circle of the earth, and includes some of the most deadly 
forms; among others the Egyptian Cobra ( Naia haje ), the 
Indian Cobra (W. tripudians ), and the Snake-eating Cobra 
(N. bungara). This last is the largest venomous snake known, 
reaching a length of thirteen feet. It is native to the Indo- 
Malayan region, as far east as the Philippines. 

Some much-dreaded snakes are found in Australia, as the 
Purplish Death Adder ( Pseudechisporphyriacus ). 

The following serpents, with a number of others which are 
usually in the collection, belong to the colubrine group. They 
are non-venomous and perfectly harmless to man, living on 
small birds, quadrupeds, reptiles, worms, and insects; several 
genera— Ophibolus and Abastor —eating small snakes of their 
own and other species. 

The Rainbow Snake ( Abastor erythrogrammus ), Southern 
States. 

The King Snake ( Ophibolus getulus), Atlantic coast. 

The Chain Snake (<9. doliatus triangulus), Western States. 

The Green Snake ( Cyclophis vernalis ), Eastern and South¬ 
ern States. 

The Pine Snake ( Pityophis melanoleucus ), south of New 
Jersey and Ohio. 

The Bull Snake ( P . sayi), south-western United States. 

The Indigo Snake ( Spilotes corais ), Gulf States. 

The Chicken Snake ( Coluber quadrivittatus ), Southern 
States. 

The Mountain Black Snake (C. obsoletus ), United States. 

The Milk Snake (C. obsoletus confinis), Western States. 

Fox’s Black Snake (C. vulpinus ), Western States. 

The Corn Snake (C. guttatus ), Southern States. 

The Black Snake ( Zamenis constrictor ), United States. 

The Whip Snake (Z. flagellum , Southern States. 

The Ribbon Snake (. Eutcenia saurita ), Eastern and South¬ 
ern States. 

The Garter Snake (E. sirtalis ), North America. 

Sacken’s Garter Snake (E. sackeniy, Florida. 


9 o 

The Cyclops Water Snake ( Tropidonotus cyclopium ), 
Florida. 

The Flat-tailed Water Snake (7. compressicaudus ), 
Florida. 

The Banded Water Snake ( T. fasciatus ), Southern States. 

The Common Water Snake (71 sipedori), Eastern and 
Southern States. 

The Hog-nosed Snake or “ Spreading Adder” ( Heterodon 
platyrhinos ), United States east of Mississippi. The last- 
named species is often called “ Blowing Viper,” and as it 
assumes a most threatening aspect when disturbed, it is com¬ 
monly held in great dread. It is, however, one of the most 
harmless of snakes. 

The boas are a group of serpents inhabiting the tropical 
zone, and attaining the largest size of any known members of 
the order, as the anaconda and boa of South America, and 
the python and rock snake of Africa and Asia. They are 
possessed of great power and kill their prey by compression; 
they swallow without difficulty animals which appear larger 
in circumference than themselves, the articulation of their 
jaws and ribs permitting of a great degree of distension. 
Dr. Hartwig, in “The Tropical World,” treats in a most 
entertaining style of these serpents :— 

“ The kingly Jiboya (Boa constrictor ) inhabits the dry and sandy locali¬ 
ties in the Brazilian forests, where he generally conceals himself in 
crevices and hollows, in parts but little frequented by man, and some¬ 
times attains a length of thirty feet. To catch his prey, he ascends the 
trees and lurks hidden in the foliage for the unfortunate agutis, pacas, 
and capybaras whom their unfortunate star may lead within his reach. 
When full grown he seizes the passing deer; but in spite of his large size 
he is but little feared by the natives, as a single blow of a cudgel suffices 
to destroy him. Prince Maximilian of Neu Wied tells us that the experi¬ 
enced hunter laughs when asked if the Jiboya attacks and devours man. 
The Sucuriaba, Anaconda, or Water Boa ( Eunectes murinus ), as it is 
variously named, attains still larger dimensions than the constrictor, as 
some have been found of a length of forty feet. It inhabits the large 
rivers, lakes, and marshy grounds of tropical America, and passes 
most of its time in the water, now reposing on a sand-bank with only its 
head above the surface of the stream, now rapidly swimming like an eel, 
or abandoning itself to the current of the river. Such is its voracity that 
Firmin Histoire Naturelle de Surinam’) found in the stomach of an 
Anaconda a large sloth, an iguana nearly four feet long, and a tolerably 
sized ant-bear, all three nearly in the same state as when they were first 
swallowed—a proof that their capture had taken place within a short 
time.” 


9 


Specimens will generally be found in the collection of the 
Common Boa .{Boa constrictor ) of South America, the Emperor 
Boa ( 3 . imp erat or), the Tree Boa {Epic rates angulifer ) of 
Cuba, the Coppery Boa (E . cupreus ) from Trinidad, and 
the Anaconda {Eunectes murinus'). The genus Epicraies 
belongs to a section of the family which are distinctively 
known as tree boas; they are rarely more than seven or eight 
feet long, are arboreal in habit, and are found in the West 
Indies and Guiana. Cor alius hortulanus and C. ruschenber- 
geri are also tree boas, the latter species being very rare. 
Certain small-sized boas have developed a habit of burrow¬ 
ing, and live under ground. The Indian Eryx ( Eryx johni ), 
Conical Eryx ( E . conicus ) of India, as well as Botta’s 
Snake ( Charina bottoe) of California, are examples of these. 

The pythons represent in the Old World the boas of 
America; among them are the Indian Python (. Python 
molurus ), the Two-lined Python (. P . bivitiatus ), the Royal 
Python {P. regius ), and the West-African Python { 3 . sebce ). 
In spite of the enormous size reached by these serpents, their 
destructive powers are largely exaggerated, and it may be 
considered doubtful if any of them are dangerous to human 
life. 

Comparatively small members of the Boidce are the Car¬ 
pet Snake {Python spilotes) of Australia and the Madagas¬ 
car Boa {Boa madagascariensis ). 

The lizards are distributed throughout the world, being 
most common in the tropics and the warmer parts of the tem¬ 
perate zone. There are some nineteen hundred known species 
belonging to the order Lacertilia. Among the most common 
North American forms are :— 

The Striped Lizard {Eumeces fasciatus), Middle Atlantic 
and Southern States. 

The Six-lined Lizard {Cnemidophorus sexlineatus ), South¬ 
ern States. 

The Brown Lizard {Sceloporus undulatus ), Southern States. 

The Horned Lizard {Phrynosoma cornuta ), South-western 
United States and Mexico. 

Douglass’ Horned Lizard {P. douglassi ), Western States. 

Crowned Horned Lizard {P. coronata ), Western States. 

Short-nosed Horned Lizard {P. platyrhina ), Western 
States. 

The Green Lizard {Anolis principalis ), Southern States. 


92 


These are all small and harmless, many of them living among 
trees and feeding upon worms, insects, &c. They exist in 
great profusion in the dry regions of the southwest, bordering 
on Mexico. 

The iguanas belong to this order. Some species attain 
a length of four and five feet; pass most of their time in 
trees and live on fruit and birds’ eggs. They inhabit tropical 
America and the West Indies, where they are considered as 
very good eating by the natives. 

A number of these have been exhibited in the collection, 
among them the Naked-necked Iguana (/. delicatissima ), 
the Common Iguana (/. tuberculata ), the Black Iguana 
{Metopoceros cornutus), and the rare Clouded Iguana (Cyclura 
nubila). 

Among other lizards in the collection are the Bengalese 
and Egyptian Monitors (Varanus bengalensis and V. nilot- 
uus), the last sometimes reaching a length of seven feet; 
Hardwick’s Mastigure ( Uromastix hardwicki ), from India, 
the Dragon-like Lizard ( Draccena guianensis ), from the 
forests of the Amazon, and the curious Slow Worm ( Anguis 
Jragiiis) of Europe. 

The chameleons are found in the warmer portions of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa. In some species the head is orna¬ 
mented by elevated crests and ridges; in all of them the 
power of changing color to accord with their surroundings is 
much developed. 

An animal most repulsive in appearance is the Gila Monster 
{.Heloderma suspectum ), from Arizona. For a long time its 
reputed venomous qualities were in doubt, but recent research 
has fully demonstrated their existence, although the animal 
seems little inclined to use its power offensively. It and an 
allied species from Mexico are the only lizards known to be 
poisonous. 

The Glass Snake (Ophisaurus ventralis) of the south¬ 
ern United States and the Dalmatian Glass Snake (( 9 . 
apus ) from Europe are lizards resembling snakes in appear¬ 
ance, being destitute of legs. 

The Tuatera of New Zealand ( Sphenodon punctatus ) is 
the only remaining member of an extinct order, Rhyncho - 


93 


cephalia , of lizard-like reptiles, from which modern lizards 
and turtles are probably descended. 

Of the Chelonia some two hundred species are known. 
These consist of the turtles proper, which are generally of 
large size and live in the sea; the terrapins, which live in 
streams, ponds, and marshes; and the tortoises or land tur¬ 
tles. There are a number of forms belonging to the Ameri¬ 
can fauna, of which the following are on exhibition :— 

The Leatherback Turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea ), At¬ 
lantic coast. 

The Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), Atlantic coast. 

The Soft-shelled Turtle (Trionyx ferox ), Gulf States. 

The Snapper Terrapin (Chelydra serpentina ), North and 
South America. 

The Musk Terrapin (Cinosternum odoraturn), Eastern and 
Southern States. 

The Mud Terrapin (Cinosternum pennsylvanicum ), East¬ 
ern and Southern States. 

Henry’s Mud Terrapin (C. henrici), Arizona and Mexico. 

The Red-bellied Terrapin (Chrysemys rubriventris) y 
Middle Atlantic States. 

The Florida Terrapin (C. concinna ), Southern States. 

The Salt Water Terrapin, or Diamond-back ( Malaco - 
clemmys terrapin ), Atlantic and Gulf States. 

The Checkered Terrapin (Chrysemys picia) } Eastern and 
Southern States. 

The Chicken Terrapin (C. reticulata ), Gulf States. 

Muhlenberg’s Terrapin (Chelopus muhlenbergi ), Penn¬ 
sylvania and New York. 

Blanding’s Tortoise (.Emys blandingi), western United 
States. 

The Box Tortoise ( Terrapene Carolina ), Eastern and 
Southern States. 

The Painted Box Tortoise (T. ornata ), western United 
States. 

The Western Gopher ( Testudo berlandieri ), southwestern 
United States. 

Agassiz’s Gopher Tortoise (T. agassizi), Arizona and 
Lower California. 

Gopher Tortoise (T. polyphemus ), Florida. 

The Radiated Tortoise ( 7 ’. radiata ), Madagascar. 


94 


The Gopher Tortoise (T. Carolina ), Southern States. 

The Common Tortoise (T, grczca), Europe. 

The Great or Elephant-footed Tortoise (Tcstado ele- 
phantopus) of the Galapagos Islands and the Brazilian Tor¬ 
toise ( Testudo tabulata ) are both South American forms. 

Turtles inhabit the whole tropical and temperate zones. 

The saurians comprise alligators, crocodiles, and their al¬ 
lies, and are found in tropical regions of the whole world. 
A number of the common alligators are kept here. The 
Rough-Eyed Caiman ( Caiman sclerops) is from South 
America. 

Alligators are easily distinguished from most crocodiles by 
their broad rounded muzzles, in the last this region being 
more or less constricted and pointed. 



the prairie-dog village. 


No. 22.—THE PRAIRIE-DOG VILLAGE. 

The Prairie Marmot ( Cynomes ludovicianus ), otherwise 
known as “prairie dog,” is a small burrowing rodent, much 
resembling the spermophiles, which are common throughout 
the western part of the United States. 



















95 


They are found in immense numbers over the expanse of 
open country between the Missouri river and the Rocky 
mountains and south into Mexico—the villages formed ;by 
them sometimes occupying miles of country, which is com¬ 
pletely honey-combed with their burrows; they dig to a con¬ 
siderable depth, those in the Garden having burrowed under a 
wall fourteen feet deep; they were overcrowded, however, and 
in a state of nature, with room to stretch out their villages on 
every side, it is not probable that they dig so deeply. The 
dogs are found in close association with the burrowing owl 
and the rattlesnake, which has given rise to the fable 
that they all live together on terms of intimacy and friend¬ 
ship. This is far from being the case, however, the evidence 
going to prove that the snake invades the home of the dog 
for the purpose of feeding upon the young, while the owl— 
to save itself the trouble of digging its own habitation—takes 
possession of the deserted burrows which are left in the 
gradual change of location which is continually going on 
among the dogs. Strong evidence was given of a natural 
enmity existing between the two, by the introduction of a 
pair of the owls into the enclosure of the dogs at the Garden, 
—they were instantly attacked by the latter, and as their 
wings had been clipped, they were unable to get away, and 
although they fought desperately were finally killed. 

Near by are a number of Woodchucks (.Arctomys monax). 
This rodent, closely allied to the marmot of Europe, is well 
known to every farmer’s boy from Canada to South Carolina; 
it burrows in the ground and when afforded proper facilities, 
as in this case, is rarely seen during the daytime. It is one 
of the most common of our wild animals, and may, perhaps, 
be better known under the name of ground hog—though 
why “hog” it is difficult to say, as it does not resemble 
that animal in any way whatever. The Siberian Marmot 
( A . bobac ) is of very similar habits. 

The Common Skunk (.Mephitis mephiticd) is a small carni¬ 
vore belonging to the large family Mustelidcz , comprising also 
the otters, weasels, badgers, &c., all of which are carnivores 
of small or medium size, mainly living on land, though 
several of them, as the mink and otter, are essentially aquatic 
in habit. It inhabits the United States from the Missouri 
river eastward,—the western and south-western parts of the 


9 6 


country being infested by several other species, one of which 
ranges into South America. The true skunks are confined to 
the New World ; in them the anal glands characteristic of all 
the Mustelidce reach their most complete development, and 
secrete a fluid which the animal can eject at will to a distance 
of several feet, and which possesses an odor at once the most 
powerful and intolerable of any known animal secretion. 
The fur of the skunk is very long and fine, and is much worn, 
under the euphonious designation of ‘‘ Alaska Sable.” 

The American Badger ( Taxidea americana) belongs to the 
same group as the skunk; it lives in burrows, which it exca¬ 
vates with its powerful claws, and is found through the western 
United States up to about latitude fifty-eight degrees, in Brit¬ 
ish America, though it is seldom seen east of the Missouri 
river; southward it is replaced by a well-marked variety 
(berlandieri ). The Badger of Europe ( Meles iaxus ) is an 
allied form. 

No. 20.—THE SQUIRREL CAGE. 

Among the true squirrels ( Sciuridce ) of North America, 
those generally to be found in the collection are the South¬ 
ern Fox Squirrel ( Sciurus niger) of the Gulf States ; the 
Northern Fox Squirrel (£. niger cinereus ), from New Jer¬ 
sey to Virginia; the Gray Squirrel ( S. caro linens is), United 
States east of the Missouri river, and the Red Squirrel (S . 
hudsonius), which ranges from British America to the Gulf 
States. 

The gray squirrel is subject to much variation, the black as 
well as the white squirrel belonging to this species. 

The Flying Squirrel (. Pteromys volucella ) is a pretty little 
rodent found throughout the United States, east of the Mis¬ 
souri river. Its aerial progression is merely a leap, prolonged 
by means of a fold of skin stretching between the fore and 
hind limbs on each side, which expands and bears the animal 
up for a short distance, after the manner of a kite. 

A large number of squirrels inhabit Central and South 
America; they are mostly red and black in color, but vary 
so interminably that it is often hard to tell what species a 
given specimen belongs to. Some of them are usually to be 
seen in the Small Mammal House. Examples of these are 


97 


the Peruvian Squirrel (S. variabilis ), the Red-bellied 
Squirrel {S. aureogaster ), and the Brazilian Squirrel ( S . 
cestuans). 

Several specimens of the pretty little European Red Squir¬ 
rel (S. vulgaris) are also kept here. 

Near by is a cage containing some Striped Gophers ( Sper - 
mophilus tridecimlineatus). The spermophiles form a large 
sub-group of the squirrel family; they live in burrows in the 
ground, but are directly connected with the tree squirrels 
by almost insensible gradations of form, one of which is the 
Line-tailed or Mexican Rock Squirrel (S. grammurus). 
It is difficult to distinguish this species, without close exami¬ 
nation, from the true squirrels, which live in trees. The 
striped gopher is found from western Michigan to the Missouri 
river and south to Arkansas. 

Richardson’s Spermophile (S. richardsoni ), the Gray 
Gopher ( S.franklini ), and the Pouched Gopher ( Geomys 
bursarius) are also North American forms. 

The Chipmunks or Ground Squirrels, of the genus 
Tamias , are another link in the chain of progression from 
gophers to squirrels; many species are found in North Amer¬ 
ica and Asia. 


INDEX 


ACOUCHY. 

Adder,. 

Adjutant,. 

Agoutis,. 

Alligator,. 

Alpaca,. 

Amazons,. 

Amblystoma, .... 

Amphiuma,. 

Anaconda,. 

Anoa,. 

Ant-eater,. 

Antelopes,. 

Aoudad,. 

Apes,. 

Apteryx, ...... 

Armadillos,. 

Ass,. 

Aviary,. 

BABOONS,. 

Badgers,. 

Bandicoot. 

Bassaris, Ring-tailed, 
Batrachia, . . . . . 

Bats,.. 

Bears,. 

Beaver. 

Binturong,. 

Bison,. 

Bitterns. 

Blackbird,. 

Boa Constrictor, . . 

Boar, Wild,. 

Bobac. 

Bobolink,. 

Buffaloes,. 

Buzzards,. 

CAIMAN,. 

Camels,. 

Capromys,. 

Capucins,. 

Capybara,. 

Caracal,. 

Caribou,. 

Carnivora House, . 

Cassowary,. 

Cats,. 

Cat Bird,. 

Cattle Pens,. 

Cavy. 

Cayote. 

Chameleon,. 

Chamois,. 

Cheetah,. 

Chevrotains, .... 
Chimpanzee, .... 
Chipmunks, .... 


Page 

. . . 19 

. . . 88 
. . . 72 

. . . 19 

• • • 73 

. . 71 

• • . 53 

. . . 87 

. . . 84 

. . . 91 

. . . 78 

• • • 23 

. . 42, 82 
. . . 80 

• • 27, 31 

. . . 47 

. . . 22 

. . . 42 

. . . 48 

• . . 31 

. . . 96 

. . . 20 

. . . 17 
. . . 84 

. . 21, 22 
14, 24, 64 

• • • 23 

. . . 17 

■ • • 74 

. . . 72 

. . . 48 

. . . 91 

■ • • 34 

• • • 95 

. . . 50 

42 , 74 , 78 
. . . 61 


. 94 

• 83 

• 19 

• 32 

. 20 

14 
. 69 

9 

. 46 

10,14 

. 48 

. 78 

• 19 

. 78 

. 92 

. 81 

12 

• 43 

. 27 

• 97 


Civet, . 

Clouded Leopard, 
Coati, . . • . . . 

Cobra,. 

Cockatoos, . . . 

Condor,. 

Conures, . . . . 
Coot, ....... 

Cormorant. . . . 
Couguar, . . . . 

Coypu,. 

Cranes,. 

Crocodile, . . . . 

Crows,. 

Cuckoo,. 

Curassows, . . . 
Curlew,. 

DARTER. 

Deer House, . . . 
Deer Park, . . . . 

Deer,. 

Dingo,. 

Douroucouli, . . . 

Doves,. 

Dromedary, . . . 
Ducks,. 

EAGLES, . . . . 

Echidna,. 

Egret,. 

Eland,. 

Elephants, . . . . 
Elephant House, . 
Elephant Pond, . . 

Elk. 

Emu. 

Eryx, . 

Eyra. 

FALCONS, . . . 
Fer de Lance, . . . 
Flamingo, . . 

Foxes,. 

Frogs,. 

GALAGO, . . . . 

Gallinule. 

Gannets,. 

Gazelles. 

Genet. 

Gibbon,. 

Gila Monster, . . 

Giraffe,. 

Glass Snake, . . . 

Gnus,. 

Goats,. 

Goose,. 

Gophers, . . . . 


( 93 ) 


Page 

. . . 17 

• • 13 

. . . 18 

. . . 88 

. . . 54 

. . . 63 

• • • 53 

. . . 60 

• • • 59 

. . . 13 

. . . 20 

60, 71 
. . • 73 

• • • 50 

• • • 51 

■ . • 56 

. . . 60 

■ • • 59 

. . . 41 

. . . 69 

43 , 70 , 83 

• • 77 

■ • • 33 

• • - 55 

• * 83 

. . 65 

. . 61 

• • 45 

• • 72 

. . 42 

• • 35 

• • 34 

• • 34 

• • 15 

. . 47 

. . 91 

. . 14 

. . 62 

. . 88 

• • 73 

, . . 76 

• • 85 

• • 33 

. . 60 

• • 58 

• • 43 

. . 17 

. . 29 

. . 92 

• • 37 

■ • • 92 

. . . 42 

. . . 80 

. . . 65 

. . . 97 






















































































































99 


Page 


Goshawk, White,. 61 

Grison,. 19 

Ground Hog,. 95 

Grouse,. 57 

Guans,. 56 

Guinea Fowl,. 57 

- Gulls. 73 

HAWKS,. 61 

Hedgehog,. 19 

Hell Bender,. 85 

Herons. 72 

Hippopotamus,. 37 

Hornbills,. 50 

Huanaco,. 71 

Hyaenas,. 14 

IBEX,. 80 

Ibises,. 72 

Ichneumons. 17 

Iguanas,. 92 

Insectivores,. 19 

JACKALS,. 77 

Jackdaw,.50 

Jaguar,. 12 

Jays,. 50 

Jungle-Fowl,. 57 


KANGAROOS, 
Kestrel, . . . 
Kingfishers, . 
Kinkajou, . . 

Kite,. 

Kiwi,. 


43 

61 

50 

18 

61 

47 


LAGOTHRIX, Grey, 
Laughing Jackass, . 

Lemur,. 

Leopard, . 

Lion,. 

Lizards,. 

Llamas,. 

Lorikeets,. 

Loris,. 

Lory,. 

Lynxes,. 


• 32 

• 50 
33 

”, 13 
10 

• 9i 
. 7i 


53 

33 


MACAQUES, 
Macaws, . . . 
Magpie, . . . 
Mangabey, . . 
Marabou, . . . 
Marmosets, . . 
Marmot, . . . 
Marsupials, . 
Menobranchus, 
Merlin, .... 
Mink, .... 
Moccasin, . . 
Mocking Bird, 
Mongoose, . . 
Monitor, . . . 
Monkeys, . . . 
Monkey House, 
Monotremes, . 
Moose, .... 
Mountain Goat, 


• 30 

• 52 

• 50 

• 30 

• 73 

• 32 

94 

21,44 

• 85 

. 61 


48 

17 

92 

29 

26 

45 

69 

81 


Page 


Mountain Sheep,. 80 

Mud Devil,. 85 

Mu is Deer,. 43 

Muntjac. 43 

Mynahs,. 49 

NATIVE COMPANION, .... 71 

Newt. 85 

Nylghaie,. 42 

OCELOT,. 13 

Opossum,. 21 

Orang-utan,. 28 

Orioles. 49 

Oryx,. 42 

Osprey,. 61 

Ostrich,. 46 

Otter,. .'. 74 

Ouakari. 32 

Owls,. 25 


PACA. 

Panther. 

Paradoxures, . . 
Parrakeets, . . . 
Parrots, . . . . 
Partridges, . . . 
Pea Fowl, . . . 
Peccary, . . . . 
Pelicans, . . . . 
Penguin, . . . . 

Petrel,. 

Phalangers, . . . 
Pheasants, . . . 
Pigeons, . . . . 
Porcupines,... . 
Porphyrios, . . . 
Prairie Chicken, 
Prairie Dog, . . 
Proteus, . . . . 

Puma,. 

Pythons, . . . . 


. 19 

. 12 

. 17 

• 53 

• 52 

• 57 

• 57 

• 34 

• 59 

. 60 

• 73 

. 20 

57,66 

• 54 

. 20 

. 60 


• 57 

. 94 


84 

13 

9i 


QUAIL, . 57 

RACCOON,. 16 

Raccoon-like Dog, . 77 

Rail,. 60 

Ratel,. 

Rattlesnakes,. 87 

Raven. 5 ° 

Reed Bird,. 5 ° 

Reptile House,. 84 

Restaurant,. 33 

Rhea,. 47 

Rhinoceros, . 36 

Rice Bird,. 5 ° 

Road Runner,. 5 1 

Robin,. 48 

Rodents,. 19 

SAND GROUSE,. 56 

Saki, Black. 32 

Salamanders,. 85 

Seals,. 38 

Sea Elephant,. 40 

Sea Lion, .. 39 

Secretary Bird,. 62 

Serval,. 14 


L-c? C. 

































































































































100 


JAN 12 



Page 


Sheep,. 80 

Siren,. 84 

Skunk,. 95 

Sloth,. 23 

Slow-worm,. 92 

Small Mammal House,. 17 

Snakes,. 87 

“Solitude,”. 23 

Spermophiles. 97 

Squirrels,. 96 

Starling,. 49 

Storks,. 73 

Swans,. 64 

Swine,. 34 

TAPIRS,. 38 

Tayra.19 

Tenrec,. 19 

Terrapin,. 93 

Thrushes,. 48 

Tiger. 11 

Tinamous. 58 

Toads,. 85 

Tortoises,. 93 

Toucans,. 51 

Troupials,. 49 


Trumpeter,. 


Page 

Tuatera,. 



Turkey. 


. . 68 

Turtles,. 



VICUNA. 

. 

• • 7 i 

Viscacha,. 


. . 20 

Vultures,. 


. ; 6r, 63 

WALLABYS, . . . 


• • 43 

Wapiti,. 


• • 15 

Wart Hog,. 


• • 34 

Water Hen, .... 



Water Turkey, . . . 


• • 59 

Weaver Bird, .... 


. 48 

Wild Cat,. 


. . 68 

Wolves,. 


. . 76 

Wombat,. 



Woodchuck, .... 



Woodcock,. 



YAGUARUNDI, . . 



Yak,. 



ZEBRA. 



Zebu. 


. . 78 


9 


















































MEANS AND WAYS OF CONVEYANCE TO AND FROM 
THE GARDEN OR NEAREST POINTS. 


CITY PASSENGER RAILWAYS. 

Girard Aventje, leading direct to the northern gate. 

Arch Street, via Spring Garden Bridge, to Thirty-fourth 
Street, thence a'short walk direct to the southern gate. 

Vine Street, same route. 

Lombard and South Streets, to the same point. 

PHILADELPHIA &, READING RAILROAD 

Has a station at Girard Avenue, within five minutes’ reach 
of the Garden. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


0 005 410 376 1 4 


THE GARDEN 

Is open to visitors every day from 9 A. M. untii half an hour 
before sunset; those who are in the Garden at that time will 
be permitted to remain until the bell rings at sunset. 


PRICES OF ADMISSION. 


Adults.25 cents. 

Children under 12 years.10 “ 

Package of 5 Adult’s tickets. $1 00 

Package of 12 Children’s tickets .... 1 00 

On Saturday and all public holidays (except 4th of July) 
the rate of admission is: Adults, 10 cents; Children, 5 cents. 


Special rates to large Excursions on application to 
the Superintendent. 
















































